The Race To Save Reykjavik
by ML Miller Breedlove
Summary: Complete. A story born from the plot bunny challenge. Information needs to go to London but Hochstetter is in the way.
1. Chapter 1

The T.V. show, Hogan's Heroes, belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Production. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended.

This story is the result of the Plot Bunny Challenge posted on Smartgroups to take another's "bunny" and write a story. Let's see if you can guess what my bunny is about. I will reveal it at the end of the last chapter.

Chapter One

Just Another Day

Water flowed over the dirt, forming mud as it reached his shoes. The well-worn brown leather offered only a token barrier. He made no attempt to move. Instead, he watched and waited, as the water inched its way over the ground.

_"Colonel Hogan." _Klink's voice assaulted Hogan from behind. The American Colonel hesitated, preparing for the encounter, and then turned to meet the man wearing the monocle.

"In case you forgot, _you _do not summon me, _I_ summon you!" The Kommandant, of Stalag 13, stormed up beside his senior POW officer, blinded, in his fury, to the activity taking place at ground level.

"I'll have you…" Klink's words changed abruptly into a surprised, "Aahh!" as his feet hit the slick mud and suddenly shot past his head.

Hogan completed his turn in time to catch the upward spiral of water, but not the Kommandant, as the German officer landed, unceremoniously, on his backside.

"_Schultz!_" Klink croaked, the wind temporarily knocked out of him.

Sergeant Shultz, momentarily stunned, was frozen in place. As he recovered, he rushed forward to help. "Herr Kommandant, are you all right?"

"Do I look all right? Get me up!" Klink gasped, fuming.

"I see you've discovered our little problem," Hogan chided, wiping the splashed muddy water from his cheek, before going to where his captor lay in the muck.

"_Hogan!_Klink bellowed. "What's all this water doing here?"

"That's why I sent for…excuse me, _asked_ for you to come. I warned you, when you gave us permission to build our boiler that you didn't give us enough time to reinforce it. Now, it's sprung a leak. And it's all because you didn't trust us to…"

"Trust?" Klink interrupted, as he attempted to pull himself back together. Tugging at his wet muddy coat, he continued, "Colonel Hogan, you know as well as I do what was on your mind last month when you were building this…this…this thing. Your request for more time had nothing to do with the boiler and everything to do with making tools to dig your way out of here!"

Hogan looked down at the water and mud at his feet and thought. _It wouldn't hurt to play into Klink's suspicions_. _It can only help make him feel more invincible and lower his guard._

"It wouldn't have been until after we had reinforced our work…" Hogan paused and looked away, sheepishly, to give Klink time to catch the, intentional, _slip of the tongue. _Then looking back at Klink he rushed on defensively. _"..._so that still doesn't change the fact that you, obviously, didn't give us enough time. If you had it wouldn't be leaking now and…"

"Aha! I knew it! Don't think I didn't catch that! You can't out-fox me, Hogan! Now what guarantee do I have that you won't take _this _opportunity to try and make tools for digging?" Klink's eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind. "How do I know you didn't start this leak on purpose?"

"Kommandant," Hogan shook his head in denial, "I give you my word, we didn't start this leak…" Hogan's hands rested on his hips rebelliously, "…and as I was saying before you interrupted me, if you had allowed us more time last month, when we asked for it, we wouldn't be standing here in this mess now!"

Klink took an accusatory step toward his senior prisoner of war. "Don't take that tone with me, Hogan, or you'll find yourself in the cooler."

Hogan dropped his hands to his side and stared quietly back at Klink.

"That's better!" Klink returned Hogan's stare. "You can't out smart me, Hogan, and I'm not going to stand here soaking wet and…" Klink stopped mid sentence as Hogan rolled back on his heels, crossing his arms in defiance.

Klink made a fist, and swept it through the air in front of Hogan. "You do not tell _me_ anything…I run this camp…and you…" The amusement on the gathering prisoners' faces made Klink stop his sputtering. Taking another step closer and coming face to face with his senior POW, he ordered, "Come to my office!"

Hogan, straightening, took a step back and looked Klink up and down. "Don't you want to change first?"

Klink gaped down at his muddy uniform and added, "In one hour!" Then, spinning on his heels to storm off, began another downward spiral.

"Herr Kommandant!" Shultz cried out, as he moved to save Klink from another spill.

"Harumph.! Klink yanked himself from Schultz's rescuing hands and continued to his quarters.

"Blimey, there's never a camera around when you need it!" Newkirk laughed, stepping next to his commanding officer.

Elbowing Newkirk, Carter chuckled, "I've never seen 'Ole" Klink move so fast."

"Oui, it's a shame he didn't _break_ anything!" Louis added, crossing his arms and scowling.

Hogan smiled while draping his arm off of LeBeau's shoulder, "Now that's what I call a one point landing!"

"He's not likely to give us what we want now. I mean now that he's made a fool of himself in front of us!" Newkirk, taking a drag off of his cigarette, looked off in Klink's direction.

"Oh, he'll come around," Hogan assured, patting Newkirk on the back. "Remember, the whole reason he gave us permission to build this water heater was to bribe us to keep quiet about his old war buddy, Major Kronman, and that little incident with the hotel safe, we helped him with." 1

"_Colonel,"_ Kinch called, as he approached the laughing group holding a piece of paper in his hand. "Message from London, sir." He looked around questioningly, "What's everyone laughing at?"

"You had to be here, Kinch. Klink just took a ruddy dive!" Newkirk answered.

"Yeah, in the mud!" Carter added, still laughing.

Louis nodded and smiled as his eyes drifted over to Hogan. The blank stare on Hogan's face worried him. "What's wrong, Colonel?"

"It looks like London has a job for us." Hogan frowned, looking up and scanning the group in front of him, before glancing back down at the orders in his hands

"What is it this time…a train, or another munitions dump?" LeBeau asked.

"Neither…I mean…I don't know. It just says they'll give us the coordinates for our rendezvous and our instructions tonight." Hogan pushed his hat back on his head and tried to read between the lines.

"Sorry Colonel," Kinch apologized. "London was firm about not telling us more."

"There's nothing you could have done, Kinch. We'll just have to wait and find out tonight." Hogan looked down at the water soaked ground and turned his and his men's attention back to the problem flowing around them. "Okay, let's get that holding tank loose. I think the water has just about all drained out now."

Newkirk fussed as he tossed the butt of his cigarette into the mud, "I don't know what good that's going to do if Klink won't let us fix it!"

"I'll handle Klink, just get that tank loose." Hogan held a wrench out to Newkirk.

Newkirk took the wrench with a sweep of his hand as Kinch looked at the depression in the mud and griped, "Man—I wish I had seen that!"

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**_One hour later in Klink's office_**:

"That shouldn't be a problem. Since, you don't trust _us_, you can just have some of your guards fix it. It shouldn't take…" Hogan nonchalantly waved his hand, while he considered a time frame.

Klink interrupted him—loudly. "My guards aren't going to fix it! You blackmailed me into allowing you to build the thing. It's your boiler! I already gave you more than I should have when I let you use the metal from that crashed plane to build it! All the metal in Germany is to be used for the war effort, my granting its use to POWs borders on treason" _If it wasn't for General Burkhalter himself telling me, when he placed you in my care, to grant you a few concessions to keep you contented, I may have thought twice before I allowed it. As it is, though, it does serve my purpose as well. _Klink reasoned, as he stared at his prisoner. His mind was racing as he sought to justify his actions. _What's wrong with my using the General's orders to my advantage, too?_

"You don't seem too concerned about me telling General Burkhalter how we helped you get that list of names out of the hotel safe in town," Hogan stated.

"That is all in the past and forgotten. Anyway, why would he believe you?" Klink asked, not sure that he wanted to hear the answer.

"I still have a copy of that list," Hogan answered.

"A copy means nothing," Klink said, hesitantly.

"Are you really willing to take that chance? You have it pretty nice here, Kommandant. Soft bed to sleep in, wine with your meals…it sure beats a cold cockpit with bullets flying around you!"

"Okay—you can keep it, but you operate it, and you fix it! And without any escape attempts. Or…" Klink paused dramatically.

"Or what?" Hogan questioned, as he took his cap off and dropped it in his lap.

"Or, we can go back to being a normal prison camp. I'll take my chances with Burkhalter, turn that metal contraption you've made over to the war effort, and you and your men can go back to taking _cold _showers! You have as much to lose as I do." Klink glared at Hogan, who sat unmoving with his arms folded across his chest, staring at the wall behind the desk. Hogan's sullen look encouraged Klink and he continued to needle him, "I would think the thought of cold showers would motivate you."

Hogan's lack of a quick retort to the cold shower statement encouraged Klink, and he raised the ante. "I'll even forgo the exercise period while you're fixing it."

Hogan, slidding his eyes from the wall, looked back at Klink and answered sarcastically, "You're all heart." Straightening and shrugging his shoulders he appeared to give in, "Oh, all right! We'll fix it."

"I thought you'd see it my way. After all, what else do you and your men have to do? "

Klink answered, smugly.

"You mean besides completing our escape tunnel?" Hogan harassed.

Klink leaned across the desk, "You have no escape tunnel, Colonel Hogan! I would know if you did. My guards inspect the barracks everyday."

Hogan glanced away as if caught in a lie, giving Klink a false sense of security that he was right. Then, sighing in _defeat_, he uncrossed his arms saying, "We'll need access to the maintenance hut."

"Granted," Klink answered as he gloated.

"And, we'll have to have access to the welding equipment," Hogan continued.

Klink paused while tapping his pencil on his desk and then nodded, "Granted…under guard," he added with a scrutinizing look.

"Of course…we wouldn't have it any other way!" Hogan answered flippantly. "Just keep Schultz away. He won't let us breathe without an explanation and I'd like to get this done as soon as possible."

"What's the matter, Colonel Hogan? Getting soft? Afraid of a little cold water?"

Klink taunted.

This last remark irritated Hogan, and he felt the rush of anger warming his skin. The reality of their existence made itself felt and lowering his guard he told Klink the truth. "It's something to look forward to. My men are not criminals, they're prisoners of war, and they have very little to keep them going. A warm shower isn't much, but at least it's something."

Hogan's answer was a humbling statement for both men. Klink's show of power faded as he was made to see life through his prisoners' eyes. He stopped goading Hogan, but he would not stop asserting his authority; he still had a prison camp to run.

"Sergeant Schultz is just doing his job. And evidently he is doing it very well. He will be in charge of the work detail."

"Yeah, he does it well all right. He won't take his eyes off of us," Hogan answered, stepping back into the game and intentionally justifying Klink's decision.

"Colonel Hogan that is exactly what I wanted to hear. I'll let Schultz know he can take you to the maintenance hut when you're ready to start. Dissmisssseed!" Klink dropped his pencil and began sorting through the papers on his desk.

"Swell, just so you know it's going to take us twice as long with him guarding us."

Klink looked at Hogan, puzzled. "Why should it take twice as long?"

"He makes us stop for lunch." Now it was Hogan leaning across the desk.

"So? Thirty minutes shouldn't slow you down that much."

"Thirty minutes? _Ha! _More like two hours! It's _his_ lunch we stop for!" Hogan stood, plopped his cap on his head, adjusted his jacket, and started for the door. Grabbing the door handle he turned to face Klink as the Kommandant rose to his feet and stomped his foot, growling.

"Impudence! My men do not take two hours for lunch."

Hogan relented, "No, you're right--it's all those ten minute breaks that add up!" Hogan quickly saluted and stepped out of the office, closing the door behind him and strategically getting in the last word.

Klink flushed with barely controlled anger, shook his head, and mumbling looked down at his desk. _Incorrigible…_ Klink thought, as he searched through his papers. _Where did that pencil go? I just had it right before… _

Hogan was smiling before his hand slipped off of the doorknob. He had done it again. Not only did he get access to the maintenance hut, but he also got Schultz as their guard.

Klink slammed his fist down on his desk, scattering papers, as he realized what had happened to his pencil. "Hogaaan!"

Hearing his name bellowed, Hogan quickly picked up his pace, while giving a pat over the left inside pocket of his bomber jacket where a certain _borrowed _pencil now rested. He was still smiling when he entered Barrack Two.

Kinch looked up from his card came as Hogan came in and knew right away, from the glint in his superior officer's eyes, that the meeting had gone well.

"Okay, we've been ordered to fix our own boiler," Hogan announced.

"You sure can handle Klink," Carter praised. "What now, Colonel?"

"Now we fix our boiler, Carter!" Hogan answered." And have some fun placing a little _discomfort_ back on our _hosts_."

Carter smiled as Newkirk added, "Right! After all, Carter, it's our duty to harass the enemy."

"Oui, every chance we get!" Louis agreed, eagerly.

"Colonel, I'm glad you're on our side!" Kinch laughed.

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"Here it comes Colonel." Kinch began scribbling the incoming coordinates down.

"Tell me again why we can't know the location of this meeting before we go?" Newkirk asked in a raised voice.

Hogan impaled Newkirk with a stare.

"…sir!" Newkirk quickly added, slapping the black knit cap onto his head and diverting his frustration and eyes away from his commanding officer.

Carter watched Hogan take in a settling breath. He had seen the Colonel do this before when he was stressed. It was a warning to tread softly. "The Colonel's already told us; its top secret!" Carter answered, hoping to save Newkirk a tongue-lashing.

This time, Newkirk addressed his question to Carter. "Everything we do is top secret, Andrew, why is this rendezvous any different?"

Hogan, dressed in black and anxious to get this mission underway, held up his hand for silence as he studied his radio operator's face.

Kinch, quickly working to decipher the code, took a last look at his work, and handed Hogan the clipboard. Hogan read it, looked at his watch, and then his men.

"We don't have much time. I can't tell you where we're going," Hogan stated looking directly at Newkirk. "Orders are: the fewer who know our destination the better."

"That doesn't sound good," Newkirk said with a frown.

"Oui, what kind of orders are those?" LeBeau questioned.

"_Our_ orders!" Hogan answered, ending any further discussion. "Kinch, if anything happens to me, you'll take charge." Looking at Newkirk, LeBeau and Carter, he asked, "Is that clear?"

"What do you mean if anything happens to you?" Louis asked

"Yeah, Colonel, what gives?" Carter, too, was beginning to wonder what it was London didn't want them to know.

"I'm to go in alone to the meeting." Hogan began walking down the tunnel toward the exit into the woods. "When we get there, fan out and cover the area. I'll go in, make contact, get the information, and get out." Hogan, reaching the ladder leading to the tree stump and the woods beyond, turned and looked at his men before he once more led them to risk their lives. "Stay sharp. If we get separated, head back to camp and don't look back."

"Blimey, gov'nor, is that it? That's all we get to know? What are we picking up?"

"_I_ don't even know that, Newkirk." Hogan answered. Checking his gun he nestled it behind his belt over his left hip. "But whatever it is, the carrier must be being pursued if London's afraid we may be captured and spill something." Hogan grabbed the ladder, "I'll go first, then LeBeau, Carter, Newkirk and Kinch. Good luck, men." Hogan turned and started up the ladder.

"And good luck to you, too, sir!" Newkirk answered back and then turning his head finished with, "In whatever it is we're doing!"

LeBeau elbowed Newkirk playfully, as he stepped passed him to the ladder, "Don't worry, 'grandma,' I'll protect you."

Newkirk gave LeBeau a disgusted shake of his head. "When I get back to London I'm going to give them a piece of my mind…if I ever get back, that is." Newkirk gave Carter an encouraging push toward the ladder. "Come on, Andrew, you're holding up the line."

Carter smiled. Newkirk's familiar banter, crazily enough, put him at ease, and he actually felt relatively calm heading out into the night.

Hogan, clearing the tree stump, ducked behind a bush to keep an eye on the guards patrolling the wire. Their silhouettes were outlined against the searchlights as the light swept the compound. It was a dark night. No moon showed. It was the kind of night pilots preferred. There was minimal light to silhouette a plane, making it less of a target for the Ack, Ack guns. _That is until the searchlights find you_! Hogan thought, and then smiled to himself. _I just can't seem to stop_ _dodging searchlights_!

Hogan led his men wordlessly through the forest, stopping only once to lie low while a small troop of German soldiers patrolling the woods passed by. Lying on their bellies in the shadows, hardly breathing, they counted the time in seconds.

Newkirk felt his hand pulse with every beat of his heart, as he held tightly onto his gun. Should the need arise he would be ready. He was already uneasy with this assignment and pumped with adrenalin. He had no doubt he could take out the whole German patrol by himself, if they were discovered. Fortunately, he was not put to the test and the Colonel soon gave the order to move on.

Arriving at the small railroad shack, LeBeau looked at his watch. _Forty minutes_? _Is that all?_ It seemed like they had been walking into the unknown for hours. And every shadow was the enemy, armed with guns—made of twigs and branches.

Pulling his pistol out, Hogan motioned for his men to fan out, before he silently approached a window and peered in.

Kinch shuddered in the cold, as he watched Hogan edge around to the door and slip inside. The Sergeant looked quickly around at the dark forest, and then back at the shack, concentrating his efforts on listening for sounds of a struggle, words or gunshots coming from inside. T_he blade of a knife will leave no sound_. Kinch thought. He quickly rushed that thought out of his head, while at the same time wishing he could see through walls. Another look around him and he edged a little closer to the building, hoping he would be able to hear if a body dropped to the floor. But the creaking of the trees swaying in the gusting wind was making that impossible.

HH

1 "The Safecracker Suite" Episode 27

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Playing the Game

"You are Papa Bear?" The question was asked from the shadowed corner opposite the door and was followed with a click as a pistol was cocked.

"It is chilly tonight." Hogan answered with his code phrase. The cocking of the gun had not eluded him, and he stiffened as he intently tried to see into the shadow.

"It is to be expected this time of year. Do you have far to go?" came the reply.

"No. I'm on my way home," Hogan finished, wishing it were true.

The man stepped out of the shadows as he released and carefully lowered the hammer on his pistol.

Hogan exhaled, relaxing only slightly.

"Good," the contact answered, as he opened his coat tucking his gun inside. He then pulled out an envelope. "Here, take this; it needs to get to someone who can act on it quickly." Looking nervously at the door he added, "I'm being followed."

Hogan took the offered envelope. "Great. I was afraid of that. Who's after you?" Hogan glanced at the door. "And could they be close enough to have seen you come in here?"

"The Gestapo…" the man began.

"Of course they are!" Hogan shook his head nervously, and flexed his hand around his pistol's grip.

"I'm still ahead of them. But you must get going before they catch up."

"I'm all for that." Hogan moved to the window and looked out. "Who are you and what do I have?"

"London didn't tell you?"

Hogan looked back at his contact. "I think the fact that the Gestapo is on your tail may have made them a little skittish. They didn't want us to have any information that could be _coaxed_ from us if we got caught," Hogan answered.

"Us?" The man questioned, suddenly feeling outnumbered, even if this truly was "Papa Bear."

"My men are outside; they'll let us know if we have company," Hogan assured.

"That makes sense," The man said thoughtfully, edging toward the door.

"I'm glad you approve." Hogan snapped, his own apprehension showing itself. "Now, do you mind telling me who _you_ are?"

"You're not out of this yet, so I think I'll keep my identity to myself, just as you do yours 'Papa Bear'. Just call me Iceman. But as for what you're carrying—you need to know; time is short for getting this to your people in London."

Hogan tried to look the man over, but it was hard to see in the dark. He appeared to be dressed in a suit, trench coat, watch, and hat. Nothing to identify him from hundreds of other men, except that he was in a shack next to a railroad track deep in the woods, where no one should be at this time of night.

"I have just handed you attack plans on Reykjavik, Iceland," Hogan's contact revealed.

The answer was a surprise. Hogan suspected tank or troop movements, air attacks, or factory locations. _Reykjavik_ He filtered the name through his memory, rolling it around in his mind until it fell into place, and its importance registered. "So, the Nazi's want their weather station back, do they?"

The stranger nodded. "The attack is set and they'll be launching in four days." Then, pulling his hat down in front to shade his face, the man headed for the door.

_Secluded shack, trench coat, hat pulled down in front, if I wasn't sweating the arrival of the Gestapo this whole thing would almost be laughable_, Hogan mused. The entire scene seemed surreal. Hogan blinked and shook his head in irony. _It reminds me of the "Thin Man" movies I use to take my dates to see._ He had always found the cloak and dagger antics that took place in those movies amusing. Now, however, he wasn't laughing.

Turning, Iceman tugged the brim of his hat, saying, "It's time to go, we've been here too long. Good luck to you."

Hogan nodded, "I'll get this to London."

"I hope it is that easy," the other man answered as he slipped out the door.

_We do it all the time. Why shouldn't it be easy? _Hogan thought, as he stared at the closed door, listening. _No voices, no gunshots, so far so good. _Hogan checked the clip in his gun. _H__e did say the Gestapo was behind him, didn't he? --I hope it's that easy too! _Walking to the door he stuffedthe envelope under his shirt, and melted back into the night.

Four pairs of eyes watched as the stranger left the shack. Kinch tried to visually examine the man leaving. He looked for blood on the unknown contact's hands or clothing, a difficult task even with a full moon, and an impossible task tonight at this distance, so they waited. One heartbeat, two heartbeats, three heartbeats later, a second man exited and Kinch, who had been holding his breath, exhaled. Shaking his head with relief, he quickly laid his hand on Newkirk's shoulder. It was the signal to stand down and Newkirk lowered his pistol as the stranger entered the woods. Hogan joined his men as Carter and LeBeau rejoined Newkirk and Kinch.

Placing his hand over his chest, Hogan indicated he had the parcel and gave the signal to return to camp.

Not far away, Hochstetter and his men were moving in on the shack that Hogan and _Iceman_ had just vacated. Approaching from the opposite direction, the Gestapo Major motioned for three of his men to move in.

Five minutes into the heroes' return trip, machine gun fire sent them crashing to the forest floor. Voices could be heard in the distance. It took only a few seconds for the fivesome to realize the guns were not aimed at them, at least not yet. Hogan had barely given the hand sign to move, before they were all back on their feet double-timing it _home_.

The men who had stormed the cabin motioned Hochstetter forward. "It is vacant, Herr Major."

Hochstetter clicked on his flashlight. His men watched as Hochstetter methodically paced the four corners of the building, stopping twice to bend and examine the muddy footprints he discovered. "There's two of them now! Look around outside. I want to know if they're traveling together or separately!"

"Jawohl!" the three soldiers answered in unison.

Hochstetter took one more trip around the inside of the building, making sure he hadn't missed anything and then followed the others out. He had no more exited when he was immediately summoned. "Major Hochstetter, over here we have found tracks where one person went off in that direction."

"So they've separated! It must have been a hand-off." Hochstetter said looking off in the direction the trail led. He turned and scanned the woods behind him. "But which one has the documents?"

Hochstetter paced away staring at the ground, "And in what direction did the other…man…woman…go?" Shinning his light around the clearing, he scanned the brush ahead of him, but saw nothing. _Hmm, I wonder... _He looked overhead at the stars to get his bearings. Walking over the tracks to the woods he searched the ground in the direction of Stalag 13. _I almost hope I don't find anything here,_ Hochstetter admitted to himself._ General Burkhalter just about has me convinced of my own paranoia where Colonel Hogan is concerned…what's this?_ Bending closer he looked, and then he stood up and took two steps away. _I will not jump to conclusions. _He turned half way back around and shined his flashlight over the depressions in the wet earth. _I'm seeing what I want to see…there is nothing there._

"Herr Major…Major Hochstetter…" Lieutenant Dresdner puzzled over his commanding officer's behavior and cautiously approached, "Did you find something, Herr Major?"

Hochstetter rubbed his chin, and looked at the Lieutenant with almost pleading eyes. "Do you see anything there?" Hochstetter indicated the area lit by his flashlight.

The Lieutenant looked questioningly at his superior officer and walked closer to the area indicated. Bending low he traced the ground with his gloved hand. Dresdner glanced up through the light at Hochstetter. "It looks like at least three…" The Lieutenant looked back down, "No…four…maybe more."

A slow smile spread across Hochstetter's face followed by an ironic laugh.

"Major?" Standing, Dresdner looked questioningly at Hochstetter.

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The five POWs' hearts were pounding in their chests as they entered the tunnel one by one from the woods just outside of Stalag 13. Panting and sweating, they looked around at one another checking to see that everyone was in one piece and when they had assured themselves all was well, laughter broke out.

Louis making a self satisfied face, patted Newkirk's chest, saying, "See, I told you there was nothing to worry about!"

"I never said there was!" The nervous chatter that had been going on stopped dead.

"What? —" Newkirk looked around at all the faces staring back at him.

"How was it?" Baker asked, stretching, as he stepped out of the radio room and into the conversation.

"A walk in the park," LeBeau answered.

Baker looked questioningly at the others as they started their moaning again.

"Don't tell me you're going to let a little machine gun fire ruin the mission for you!" LeBeau continued.

"Machine gun fire?" Baker's voice trailed off as he was interrupted.

"I suppose you're going to tell me you weren't lying in the dirt next to me, when that spray hit the woods," Newkirk questioned LeBeau.

Carter reaching up and scratching his neck, admitted, "I sure was! I think I heard a bullet rip through the branches over the top of my head."

"Is somebody going to tell me what happened?" Baker looked around at the group, his eyes stopping on Kinch.

Kinch looked at Hogan, "Gestapo, Colonel?"

Hogan nodded. "Our contact said they were on his tail."

"He should have said they were in his back pocket!" Kinch said, wiping the sweat from his face.

"Who's on lookout up stairs?" Hogan asked Baker.

Baker, shaking the mental picture of his friends dodging bullets out of his head, looked at his watch and answered, "Dollen."

Hogan nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Hey, Colonel, can you tell us now, what we risked our lives for?" Carter asked.

Hogan pulled out the envelope and held it up. "These, gentlemen, are attack plans."

"Attack plans on what, Colonel?" Kinch asked, slipping out of his black pants and into his fatigues.

"Reykjavik," Hogan answered.

Pulling off his black wool sweater, Carter asked, "Ryk—what, Colonel?" His questioning face soon gave way to one of relief as he enthusiastically began scratching at his red itching skin.

"Sheesh, Andrew, you look like a dog with fleas!" Newkirk observed.

"Can I help it if I'm allergic to wool?"

"Carter, why don't you wear a shirt under that sweater?" Kinch asked.

"Too confining!" Carter answered, contorting to try and reach the middle of his back.

LeBeau couldn't stand watching Carter itch any longer, and went to scratch the elusive spot while chiding, "Oui, he'd rather itch!"

Hogan turned, hiding his amusement and answered, "Reykjavik, Iceland."

Walking past Kinch, he went to the table where they kept their rolled maps and dug out the one he was looking for. He unrolled it and stretched it out on the table, then pulled his gun from his belt to lay it on one side, as he leaned on the other.

His men, in various stages of disrobing, wandered over and joined him.

"There it is, Carter," LeBeau pointed.

"Well, what's the big deal about that?" Carter asked.

"Location; see where it lies, Andrew," Newkirk asked

"Yeah…so?"

Hogan reached out and traced a line with his finger. "Between the eastern tip of Northern Canada and the western coast of Scotland is where most European weather originates. It's a big advantage in laying out your battle plans to be able to predict the weather, and the Germans plan to attack in four days to take it back," Hogan answered. "Kinch, go ahead and get London on the radio and…"

"_Wait!_"Collins ran in panting, "Dollen sent me to tell you, the Gestapo are here and they have what we think might be a radio detection truck."

Hogan took off for the barracks tearing his sweater off and grabbing his shirt from the rack as he passed. He leapt for the ladder, entered the barracks, and headed for the door.

Dollen stepped aside. "Hochstetter went straight to Klink's quarters, Colonel,"

"Is it just Hochstetter and the radio detection truck?" Hogan asked.

"And the two goons he brought with him, sir."

"What is it, Colonel?" Kinch asked, joining Hogan and leaning to see out the crack in the door.

The rest of the men in the barracks were starting to roll out of their bunks to see what the commotion was about.

Newkirk, LeBeau and Carter came up from below in their long johns ready to assume the role of _just awakened_ prisoner.

"It looks like… hold it, here comes Klink," Hogan answered.

Hochstetter was bellowing along with Klink and after a few minutes of heated conversation between the two, Klink turned and called, "Schuuultz!"

The murmuring that had been going on inside of Barrack Two stopped, as Hogan held up his hand for silence.

Klink, his coat open and still shoving his shirttail into his pants, began shouting orders. "Get those spot lights turned around. Shine them into the woods! Schnell!"

The lights began spinning about. The compound darkened. And the surrounding woods lit up.

"Wow," Kinch whispered.

"That didn't take long!" Hogan observed with a grimace.

"_What_?" Newkirk asked, as he headed for a window. Letting out a low whistle, he gasped, "It looks like a bleeding ant hill!"

"How many SS do you think are out there, Mon Colonel?" LeBeau asked, looking up from where he was crouched below Hogan at the door.

"It looks like there could be a hundred and that's just between the fence and the woods." Hogan answered.

"Here comes, Schultz," Carter said, standing at the window next to Newkirk. "What's he doing?"

"He's trying to keep his pants up! Oh, blimey, now there's something I don't want to see," Newkirk remarked. "Come on Schultzie get that belt fastened!"

The other men of Barracks Two vied for a spot to see the action taking place outside. As the commotion increased the sirens started up, signaling an escape. The kennel was then opened, spilling the dogs out into the compound.

"I'd better get out there," Hogan decided, as he pulled on the door. Meeting resistance he looked to see Kinch's hand holding it shut. "What are…"

"Uh, Colonel, hadn't you better finish changing first?"

"Huh?" Hogan looked down. "Oh—yeah. Can't go out there like this," Hogan answered, slightly embarrassed at being caught off guard.

Kinch handed Hogan the rest of his uniform.

"Thanks, Kinch." Kicking off his muddy boots he quickly removed his black pants and handed them to Kinch before pulling on his brown uniform pants. "Get those below," he said, pointing at the pants and boots he had just discarded. Slipping into his customary brown shoes, he continued, "And somebody get my muddy tracks wiped up. If they inspect the barracks I don't want to lead them straight to the tunnel."

"Right, sir"s and "Yes, sir"s, were murmured, as the men collectively set about making it look like the only thing going on in Barracks Two, was prisoners sleeping.

Hogan, taking one last quick look at the cleanup being done, headed out the door.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


	3. Chapter 3

The T.V. show, Hogan's Heroes, belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Production. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended.

This story is the result of the Plot Bunny Challenge posted on Smartgroups to take another's "bunny" and write a story. Let's see if you can guess what my bunny is about. I will reveal it at the end of the last chapter.

Chapter Three

Caught

"Get those dogs back in the kennel!" Klink shouted, while maintaining a firm grip on the swagger stick under his arm.

Hogan stealthily crept up behind Klink, easily remaining unnoticed in the darkened compound. "What's going on Kommandant?"

Spinning around, Klink came face to face with his senior POW. "Colonel Hogan, what are you doing out here? Why aren't you asleep?"

"Asleep? With all this racket?" Hogan gestured to the dogs and guards.

"_Colonel Hogan,_" Hochstetter called out above the noise. "I see you are still dressed! How long have the lights been out, Klink?"

Klink looked at his watch and then dubiously back at Hogan.

"Never mind!" Hochstetter stepped next to Hogan and ordered, "Unzip your coat."

Hogan looked at the guards behind Hochstetter and decided to comply. "Is there something I can help you with Major?" Hogan asked. "Or do you just enjoy looking at American uniforms?" Hogan questioned. Seeing the anger growing in Hochstetter's eyes, he proudly threw in his clincher. "Give us a little time, and there'll be more around."

"Yes, and all behind barbed wire, I'm looking forward to that! We'll see how smug you are then," Hochstetter hissed.

Hogan unzipped his coat and, staring complacently back at the Major, fanned it open.

"And fully dressed at that," Hochstetter observed.

Hogan dropped his hands and shrugged, "You didn't expect me to come out here in my pajamas did you? Kommandant Klink demands I be in uniform when I address him."

"That is true! I've always been a man of regulations and…" Klink stopped his babbling when Hochstetter looked at him disapprovingly. Turning to Hogan, he ordered, "Colonel Hogan, all prisoners are confined to their barracks. You're dismissed. Go back inside!"

Hochstetter waved his hand, "Just a minute Kommandant, I'm not through yet. I'd like to hear Colonel Hogan's questions. After all he did go to all the trouble of getting dressed to ask them."

Hogan straightened, with the realization Hochstetter was toying with him. He thrust his hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket and asked, "I want to know what's going on, and if my men are in any danger."

"Oh? You just want to know if your men are safe? Hmm." Hochstetter spoke in a patronizing tone "And maybe make an appearance to make us think you've been here in camp all night."

Hogan quickly denied the accusation. "I _have_ been here all night. Ask the Kommandant if you don't believe me."

Hochstetter frowned and mumbled, "I might as well ask Schultz." Klink, not hearing the derogatory remark, was already bragging on his no escape record.

"Yes, that's right, no one can get past my guards," Klink, answered with a smug look on his face

"Is that so, then you won't mind if I have a look around." Hochstetter motioned his guards forward as he snidely remarked, "Let's go wake up your men, Colonel Hogan…or are they already awake and fully dressed, too?" The guards turned Hogan around, and gave him a shove toward Barrack Two as they fell in behind.

Hogan angrily took a quick step to catch his balance and intentionally slowed his pace. Passive aggression, sometimes the only retaliation possible, had become an art.

Hochstetter headed for Barracks Two, feeling he had the upper hand, and smiled with pleasure as he called over his shoulder, "Coming, Kommandant?"

Thirty minutes later… 

Hogan grimaced as he heard more crashing coming from his office. Following being thoroughly searched, he and the other prisoners were allowed to dress and then were lined up in the common room, while the guards ransacked the barracks, and Hochstetter rummaged through Hogan's things.

Klink stood next to Hogan's door, nervously watching, and praying nothing was found that could incriminate him.

Finally, Hochstetter appeared at Hogan's doorway and marched past Klink to stand in the common room.

"Major Hochstetter, I don't know why you persist in suspecting my prisoners of the goings on outside of this camp," Klink crowed with relief.

Frustration showed on Hochstetter's face, as he watched his guards finishing their search of the rest of the barracks. Hochstetter, noting his men filling their pockets with the plundered chocolate bars and cigarettes they found along the way, smirked, and did nothing to stop it.

"Hey, that's mine," Carter took a step out of line and was grabbed on either side by Kinch and Newkirk.

"Forget it, Andrew, those blokes would just as soon shoot you as give it back," Newkirk warned.

Carter's short protest pulled Hochstetter out of his daze and he casually walked down the line of POW's, stopping in front of Hogan. "I'm afraid I've knocked over a few things in your room, Colonel Hogan. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all Major, I'll send you the cleaning bill" Hogan smarted back.

"_Hogan_!" Klink bellowed.

Hogan scowled at the reprimand and then looking around at the rest of the barracks, asked, "Now that you've searched us and helped yourselves to our things, do you want to tell me what you were looking for?"

"Watch what you say, Colonel Hogan; falsely accusing a German soldier of stealing brings harsh penalties to the accuser." Hochstetter growled. "We've only confiscated suspicious paraphernalia."

"Yeah, it's hard telling what you might find hiding in a chocolate bar!" Hogan backtalked.

Finding himself once again coming up empty handed where Colonel Hogan was concerned, Hochstetter's anxiety spewed out. "I did not want to come here! I… We're not done, Colonel Hogan!"

The Major clenched his fist. _Am I grasping at straws here? No, Lieutenant Dredner saw the footprints, too. The suspects did head in this direction._ _But I must be careful. I must perform a thorough search of the woods. _

Not wanting to admit defeat, Hochstetter spun around and exited the barracks.

Klink looked at Hogan questioningly and then turned to follow the Major.

Hogan followed Klink out the door, while his men dispersed and began putting what was left of their belongings back together.

"Just a minute Kommandant," Hogan called.

"Colonel Hogan, go back inside," Klink ordered over his shoulder and struck off across the compound.

"Kommandant, you can't just march in, search us, ransack the barracks and march out without telling me what's going on. As senior POW officer I…"

"_Schultz," _Klink called, before addressing his disobedient prisoner. "Colonel Hogan, I can do whatever I want!" The rotund sergeant stopped giving orders to the guards and, seeing the confrontation, came huffing up to Klink's side.

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," Schultz puffed, while trying to judge how far the American Colonel had got himself into trouble…this time.

"Escort Colonel Hogan back to his barracks." Klink looked at Hogan sternly.

Schultz, relieved to only be returning Hogan to his barracks, stepped forward.

"Just a minute, Schultz," Hogan looked back at Klink. "You didn't answer my question, Kommandant."

"Colonel Hogan, please," Schultz felt his relief being replaced with apprehension.

Klink's patience was running out. "Schultz, put Hogan on report and get him back inside!"

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant." Schultz raised his massive arms to _herd_ Hogan toward his barracks, but was stopped by the sound of Hochstetter's voice.

"_I'll_ answer your question, Colonel Hogan," Hochstetter, a few steps ahead, turned back to the American.

Momentarily closing his eyes in dreaded anticipation, Schultz opened them, dropped his arms and stepped aside.

Hochstetter stepped closer. "It is yet to be seen if you and your men are in any _danger_, Colonel Hogan. We are looking for a traitor to the Fatherland. We know he is in this vicinity and that he met someone just two miles from here. He will be found! You… "

Hochstetter pointed his finger in Hogan's face, as the American stared unflinchingly back at him. Suddenly, a truck pulling into camp, stopped Hochstetter mid sentence as he turned his head to look at it. Recognizing it as a prisoner transport truck, the Major's hopes again soared. "It looks like the answer to your question may have just come through the gate." Turning his back on Hogan, he slammed past Klink on his way to see his new prisoner.

"Schultz, take Hogan back _now_," Klink growled. _Hochstetter's having enough fun without you out her adding to it, Hogan! _Shaking his head, he hurried to follow the Major over to the truck.

"Come, Colonel Hogan," Schultz urgently nodded in the direction of the barracks.

"Wait a minute, Schultz." Hogan looked around Shultz at the truck.

"Nein, Colonel Hogan!" Schultz said firmly, wanting to remove Hogan from the Kommandant's and Hochstetter's sight. "The Kommandant said for you to go back to the barracks _now_."

"Who's in the truck, Schultz?" Hogan asked, stalling for time. His feet still planted in place.

"I do not know who is in the truck. I do not want to know who is in the truck. _You_ should not want to know who is in the truck. Now, come, let's go." Schultz moved his great bulk toward Hogan.

Two SS soldiers jumped down from the back of the truck while a third and fourth threw a prisoner down to them.

Hogan froze, as the man was turned to face Hochstetter. He recognized him as the contact he had just met with earlier that evening. _Great! _Hogan's view was cut off as Schultz reached for his arm, turning him back in the direction of his barracks.

Hochstetter, arriving at the truck, placed his domineering presence within inches of his hostage's face. "Well, Herr Baum, we have you at last." Turning to Lieutenant Dresdner he asked, "Have you searched him?"

"Jawohl, Major. We found nothing."

"Who did you pass the stolen documents to?" Hochstetter demanded.

Baum stood silently staring forward.

Hochstetter delivered a backhand. "You might as well answer me and save your self a lot of pain, because we will soon have your accomplice…I promise you!" Baum remained silent. "Take him to the cooler."

Hochstetter looked longingly at his prisoner as he was led away, fighting the urge to begin his interrogation, immediately. No, first, he would search while the trail was hot, just in case Hogan and his men were not involved. He would not put all of his eggs in one basket_…_not again! Hochstetter turned and started barking orders. "Fan out and keep searching the woods. Whoever they are they were ahead of us." _And headed in this direction, _he thought. Looking back, he saw Schultz depositing Hogan back inside of Barrack Two. _You always seem to be in the middle of the action, Colonel Hogan!_

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Kinch stepped away from the door as Hogan entered. "That's him," Hogan muttered.

"I was afraid of that," Kinch answered, taking a last look at the man being marched to the cooler, before he shut the door.

"What do you mean, that's him?" Newkirk asked, already knowing the answer. "You mean that's who you met with tonight?"

Hogan nodded.

LeBeau, who had been picking up the mess in Hogan's room, stuck his head out the door. "What happened?"

"Hochstetter's got our contact," Newkirk answered.

Oh, no!" Louis walked to the table and sat down.

"Well at least he's here!" Carter said, stuffing the last of his belongings back in his bag.

"What do you mean, 'at least he's 'ere?" Newkirk demanded.

"Well, we can bust him out!"

"Oh, yeah, and how do you plan to do that with Hochstetter and the SS guarding him?" LeBeau questioned.

"We've got another problem." Kinch interrupted. "How are we going to get this information to London? I can't use the radio with a radio detection truck sitting in our front yard!"

"And we can't risk leaving camp with all those SS troops in the woods," Hogan added.

"What a bleedin' mess!" Newkirk turned, and took his frustration for a walk to the back of the barracks.

Hogan, staring at the floor, folded his arms in front of him and paced toward the door of his room and back. And then…did it again. Eventually on his third trip he paused and looked at his men, a hint of a smile appearing before he turned for one last trip and a final think-through.

Newkirk walked back up to the group and rested his hand on Carter's shoulder, where he sat next to LeBeau. "Thought of something, Colonel?"

Carter looked up at Newkirk, "You know he has! He always does." Then practically leaping at Hogan asked, "What is it, Colonel?"

Hogan nodded to himself, still not looking at his men, as he replayed his plan in his head checking for _holes. _Satisfied he turned and faced the anxious group. "Kinch, make a phone call to our contacts in Hammelburg. Give them a coded message to be watching for our _courier_ and to use plan B."

"They probably have the phones tapped, too, Colonel," Kinch offered.

Hogan nodded his agreement. "You'll have to wait until morning, when it can be disguised as a routine call for supplies." Hogan looked at Carter. "Andrew, can you make up some small explosives with a lot of smoke?"

Carter smiled. "Sure can, Colonel."

"Something to make a burning truck more of a spectacle. I want it to look like it could set the camp's buildings on fire and threaten an escape."

"Gotch ya, buddy...I mean, _sir_! Yes, sir!" Carter stammered as he stood to go below and get started.

"Carter," Hogan called, stopping the enthusiastic Sergeant in his tracks. "Get some sleep first. You can wait until after morning roll call."

"Yes, sir," Carter saluted.

Newkirk shook his head at his energetic friend and then asked, "What about me, Colonel?"

"Oui, and me. What do I do?"

"_You_, gentlemen, have a boiler to fix!" Hogan turned and walked to his door before turning back, "That's it, get to bed. Tomorrow's a busy day!" With that, Hogan entered his room and closed the door.

Newkirk and LeBeau looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Repair the _boiler?_" Louis repeated, confused.

Newkirk shook his head and stared at the closed door. "Don't ask me! I gave up long ago trying to figure him out." Then, looking back at LeBeau, confessed. "What bothers me most is when he goes bonkers, we'll never know the difference!"

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	4. Chapter 4

The T.V. show, Hogan's Heroes, belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Production. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended.

This story is the result of the Plot Bunny Challenge posted on Smartgroups to take another's "bunny" and write a story. Let's see if you can guess what my bunny is about. I will reveal it at the end of the last chapter.

Chapter Four

Crossed Swords

"Hey Schultzie, open the door for us, would ya?" Newkirk asked, struggling to keep up his end of the load.

Hogan stood in the background, watching as Newkirk, Thompson, and Edwards, followed by a dutiful Schultz, carried the makeshift boiler into the maintenance hut to be fixed. As the door closed behind them, Hogan turned, placing his foot on the bench outside of Barrack 11. Then, taking one last look around, he leaned across his knee, setting phase one into play.

Carter took the cue and began walking with a small picture viewer up to his eye, deliberately bumping into the patrolling guard. "Oh sorry, I didn't see you," Carter apologized with a wide smile on his face.

The guard, Corporal Kohler, looked questioningly at the small object in Carter's hand.

"Hey, you wanna look?" The tiny three-inch long viewer was thrust at the guard, who took it hesitantly in his oversized hands, while glancing over his shoulder making sure no one was watching. Slowly, he pulled it up to his eye and peeked inside. Kohler tore the picture away from his face and looked briefly at Carter, before again indulging himself.

The picture inside the viewer was what the Americans called a _morale booster_… of the feminine persuasion, and guaranteed to take a soldier's mind off the war. _That's right, take your time, get an eyeful, just don't go taking it to Klink. He thinks it's still locked up in his desk. _ _But the Kommandant can't call Newkirk a thief for taking it; after all, Klink took it from Paulsen when they brought him into camp_.

Carter looked past the guard to see Kinch slipping into the restricted building housing the water tanks for the kitchen, and guards' showers.

"Ja." Kohler smiled, and murmured in broken English, "It…i…is… good."

"You like that, huh, big fella," Carter grinned, "Yeah, it's pretty good all right!" he added, giving Kinch time to close the door. "Well, I'd better get going and you'd better, too. We don't want Klink to catch you."

Kohler stiffened as the name "Klink" registered. He quickly pulled the picture away from his eye, thrusting it back at Carter. Being on duty, Kohler was risking a severe reprimand, a reprimand that could end up on his permanent record. "Ja!" he answered tensely, and motioned Carter on.

As the guard move away, Carter sauntered over to where Hogan still stood with his foot on the bench, observing the successful completion of phase one. "How long will Kinch need, Colonel?"

"I don't know exactly" Hogan answered, his eyes still on the guards milling around the compound. "He'll open the window an inch when he's done." Then looking at Carter, he finished. "When he does, signal Anderson."

"Right, Colonel!" Carter nodded, as he sat down on the bench outside of Barrack 11. Putting his picture viewer up to his eye, he nervously cleared his throat and began watching for Kinch's signal.

Hogan smiled, as a red blush colored Carter's cheeks. Reaching out he patted the young Sergeant on the shoulder. "Kinch shouldn't be long Carter, then you can give _that…" _Hogan pointed at the viewer. "…back to Newkirk."

Carter, looked up while smiling nervously and nodded. Turning back to look _around_ the viewer, he watched for Kinch's signal.

Still smiling, Hogan slipped his foot off of the bench he had been leaning on, and stretched lazily while looking around. A small cluster of men had begun to gather a few feet away and he casually went to join them, leaving Carter alone to continue his vigil.

It wasn't long before the, watched, window slowly opened. Carter quickly shoved the viewer into his pocket, removed his hat, and dragged his arm across his forehead.

Private Anderson took in a deep breath. He had been watching nervously from the window in Barracks 11 for Carter's signal.

_There it is! _Anderson placed his hand over his heart to keep it from jumping through his chest. _Okay I'm on! I can do this. I **can **do this._

This was Anderson's first excursion into the world of deception. And the first time he had been asked to help with any of the schemes that went on in camp. He felt like a kid going on his first date, both scared and excited at the same time. Throwing a towel over his shoulder and tossing a piece of soap, he marched out of the barracks. _Please, just don't shoot me! _Whistling loudly, he conspicuously approached his destination.

It didn't take long for him to catch the attention of a nearby guard, who curiously watched Anderson, until it finally donned on him what the prisoner was attempting to do.

"Halt!"

Anderson stopped at the door of the building housing the showers and watched the guard approach him.

"Nein!"

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Anderson extended his hand to the door handle and stuttered, "I…I just want to take a quick…"

"_Nein!"_ The guard repeated grabbing the errant prisoner by the collar and pulling him back.

Anderson, unprepared, stumbled, flailing his arms and giving a startled yelp.

The prisoners, that had been gathering off to the side, moved in, adding to the commotion, and drawing more guards from their routine rounds to _control_ them. The added commotion quickly turned into a chorus of voices and shoving.

Under cover of the diversion, Kinch slipped out of the building he had infiltrated, his pockets and jacket a little lumpier than before he entered, and made his way to the maintenance hut.

Hogan watched and waited for Kinch to disappear inside, and then hurried to make it to the, orchestrated, disturbance ahead of any physical violence that might erupt on the part of the guards.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Hogan shoved his way to the center of the jostling mob, and the role-playing began. "Anderson, what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to take a shower, Colonel."

Hogan held out his hand for the soap and towel, which Anderson appeared to reluctantly hand over. "You know we can't take showers whenever we want. Besides the boiler's broken, you'd be an ice cube before you finished. Now come with me!" Hogan stepped between the offended guard and Anderson. "Sorry, I'll take care of this. Tell the Kommandant I'll see to his punishment."

The guard looked at Hogan and then back at Anderson before nodding his agreement. "Verboten!"

"Ja, ja," Hogan placated. "Verboten. All right you guys break it up! _Anderson_, this way!"

After a safe distance Hogan whispered, "Good job, Anderson,"

"Thank-you, sir. Now that it's over, it was…kinda fun!"

Hogan smiled. "If Kinch accomplished his task, the fun's just beginning!"

"Yeah, how long before they'll notice, sir?"

"It won't take long." Hogan looked at his watch, and turned to face Anderson, for the guards benefit.

"And another thing!"

Anderson slammed to a stop and snapped to attention, shocked at the sudden change in his commander's demeanor.

"The Kommandant could commit you to the cooler for breaking the rules, and _me_ with you for letting it happen. So the next time you feel the need to go against regulations, _remember that_!"

"Yes, sir," Anderson answered, regaining his composure and falling back into his role.

"You've just earned yourself two weeks KP duty, mister. Dismissed!"

"Yes, sir! Thank-you, sir!" Snapping to attention, Anderson saluted. Hogan returned it…with a covert wink.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"You sent for me, Kommandant?" the American Colonel asked as Schultz ushered him into Klink's office.

"Yes, Hogan, sit down. I was just told by our cook that there is no water in the kitchen. What do you know about this?"

Taking off his cap, Hogan dropped it on Klink's desk. "I was just on my way to tell you when Schultz came and got me." Hogan looked innocently at Klink as he plopped in the chair, "There's no water going into the kitchen."

Klink's jaw clenched. He looked down at his desk and rubbed his forehead trying to lessen his headache. Between Hochstetter getting him up in the middle of the night, and the cook complaining about the lack of water, his head felt as big as a melon. Slowly and deliberately, he tried again to get a straight answer from his suddenly dense prisoner.

"I know that!" Klink paused, and looking tiredly over at Hogan, asked, "What I want to know is the reason there is no water."

"Because the pipes are rusted through!" Hogan picked a pen up off of Klink's desk and began taking it apart. "My men discovered it when they traced the water line back…" Hogan stopped explaining, and frowned at the two pen parts he now held in his hands. "Huh, these won't go back together." Looking up, he announced, "They came apart… they have to go back together. Uh, where was I …oh yeah, the leak. My men discovered it when they traced the line back." Hogan began forcing the two pieces of pen back together.

Klink leaned forward in his chair, "Your men discovered it? Ha, more likely your men broke them. And how did they know there was a leak to begin with? Was the ground wet?"

Holding a now together pen, Hogan grinned and held it up triumphantly.

"Give me that!" Klink slammed the pen down on the opposite side of his desk.

"No, the ground was dry." Hogan leaned back in his chair, and looked around Klink's office.

"Maybe I'm not making myself clear." _I can hardly think myself, with this headache._ Klink closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. "Colonel Hogan..." Opening his eyes Klink continued. "What I want to know…Colonel Hogan, don't look at the floor, look at me."

Hogan whipped his head up, as Klink snapped his fingers. _Well, that didn't take long. Frustrated, Kommandant? Good!_

"That's better. Now, try to stay with me on this. What I want to know is how your men knew to trace the pipeline back." Klink poured himself a glass of water from the canister on his desk.

"Oh, well why didn't you say so? They couldn't get any water pressure in the pipes."

Klink shook his head and, opening his desk draw, took out a tin of aspirin. "I still don't see how they knew that was due to a leak in the pipes? The water tower could have been dry, or a valve could have been shut off," He tossed the aspirin into his mouth and downed the water, as his head began to pound harder.

"Well, because the pipes were broken there was no water coming through them, and since there was no water coming through them …"

Klink could feel his headache growing with each word assaulting his ears. "_Stop_! I don't care about the water pressure…or the leak! Just _fix_ it!" Klink grabbed his head.

"We can't fix it." Hogan took his cap from Klink's desk and brushed it off.

"What do you mean you can't fix it?" Klink sighed, his eyes half closed, he leaned tiredly on his desk.

"Well, that is why I was coming to see you." Hogan shined the brim of his hat on his sleeve.

"I thought you said you were coming to see me to tell me there was no water going to the kitchen?" Klink asked, totally confused.

"No, that was why _you_ sent for me. You already knew there was no water in the kitchen, and you wanted to know if I knew why." _Giving up, Kommandant? I hope so, just follow my lead._ "There wouldn't be much sense in me telling you what you already know!" Hogan stopped, and looking closely at Klink, asked, "Are you sure you're feeling all right, Kommandant? You seem to be having trouble following what I've been telling you."

Klink stared at Hogan, his mouth hanging open. _If you think I'm not listening? You should try being on my end of this conversation!_ "Truthfully, I was feeling better before we started talking. So why were you coming to see me, if it wasn't to tell me there's no water going to the kitchen?" Looking back up at Hogan, he found his senior POW trying to flip a tack, using a paper clip, into the pencil holder on his desk. "_Hogan, _pay attention!"

"Huh?" Hogan looked up with a start from his improvised 'tiddley winks'.

"How do you expect me to follow what you're saying when you keep getting distracted? Now, leave the top of my desk alone!" Klink moved his pencil holder to the other side of his desk with the recently banished pen.

"Sorry!" Hogan threw the paper clip down. "What was the question? Oh, yeah, why was I coming to see you? I wanted to tell you something you needed to know," Hogan stopped.

Klink looked at Hogan, and with false patience, lowered his voice, saying, "Yes, go on. What did I need to know?"

"That we need more pipe," Hogan announced.

"You need more pipe?" Klink questioned.

"To repair the line," Hogan answered helpfully, and then continued explaining, "So we can replace the pipes that have rusted through."

Klink stared at Hogan for a moment, analyzing what he had just been told. "I guess that makes sense, so why do I have a feeling you're trying to get away with something."

Hogan, appearing stunned, straightened in his seat. "I was just trying to be helpful, sir. But if you don't want us to repair it…" Standing, Hogan put his hat on his head.

The thought of having to deal with the cook again made Klink's head feel like it was going to explode. "No, no, you can repair it. Just tell Sergeant Schultz what you need and I'll write out the requisition."

_Mission_ _accomplished! _Hogan breathed in deeply"Yes, sir, if that's all I have a few remaining details to take care of before we make that list." _And before we send_ _Schultz, into town with our message for the underground._

"I certainly hope so…I mean, yes, that is all. You're dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." Flipping off a sloppy salute, Hogan turned to leave.

"And Hogan…" Klink began.

"Yes, sir?" Hogan turned back.

"Try to get more rest. You seem to be having trouble staying focused and…it could interfere with the smooth operation of my camp."

"Me?" Hogan exclaimed. "You…"

"That is all!" Klink waved. "Disssmisssed!"

Hogan once again turned to leave and, smiling to himself, barely took two steps toward the door when it burst open and Major Hochstetter barreled in.

"Colonel Hogan," The Gestapo Major stopped short "You've saved me the trouble of sending for you." Hochstetter sneered and circled Hogan.

"Major Hochstetter!" Klink dropped both arms down on his desk, and with a shake of his head, asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to interrogate my prisoner…and to have a little talk with Colonel Hogan." Looking at Hogan, Hochstetter ordered, "Sit down."

Hogan felt himself tense as he stepped back to put some distance between himself and the Gestapo Major. _They say the best defense is a strong offense, let's try a frontal attack._ "So, have you had any luck finding the accomplice you've been looking for, Major?"

Hochstetter glared at Hogan. And then smiling through gritted teeth, and in an overly calm voice, again ordered, "Sit down, Colonel Hogan." Grabbing the chair next to Klink's desk, he placed it front and center. "_Now_!"

Hogan looked at the chair and frowned, before lowering himself into it. Then, nonchalantly crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap, he jauntily asked, "Well, Major, we haven't had one of our little heart to hearts in a long time. What can I do for you?"

_Please, Colonel Hogan, don't do anything foolish._ Klink silently begged.

Hochstetter pursed his lips and, looking down, studied the floor as he walked over and leaned against the edge of Klink's desk. Without looking up he began, "Herr Baum's contacts seem to have vanished into thin air like phantoms," Hochstetter looked at Klink's riding crop lying next to him on the desk, and picking it up, flexed it between his two hands. "I don't believe in ghosts." Releasing one side of the riding stick he jabbed it into Hogan's chest proclaiming, "I have a feeling you know more than you're letting on, Colonel Hogan!"

Hogan looked down at the affront, and then with cold glaring eyes looked directly at Hochstetter. "You saw me here last night. Until you arrived setting off the sirens and letting the dogs out, I was sleeping."

"Perhaps," Hochstetter answered, as he slid the riding crop up to just below Hogan's 'Adam's apple'.

Moving his hands to the arms of the chair to keep from snatching Hochstetter's horsewhip out of his grasp, Hogan's knuckles blanched white.

"Major Hochstetter, you are always making accusations but you never have any proof." Klink nervously jumped to his feet, coming to a stop next to Hogan.

"True, Kommandant, I have no proof…," Hochstetter answered, still staring at Hogan,

"I knew it! Then I must ask you to stop stirring up my prisoners." Klink interrupted. He had one eye on Hogan, watching for the familiar flash in the American's eyes that warned he had had enough.

Still pressing into Hogan's neck with the whip, Hochstetter added, "…yet! But what I do have is a prisoner in the cooler that I am about to interrogate. Does that worry you a little, Colonel Hogan?"

Hogan looked at Hochstetter questioningly. The pressure on his neck was becoming more and more uncomfortable and he fought not to cough. "Why should it worry me? You're the one that has to answer to Berlin for _failing_ to find…whoever it was you were looking for."

Hochstetter's jaw tighten at the mention of Berlin, and Hogan reaffirmed, "I've been right here."

Hochstetter leaned toward Hogan as he bellowed, "You, Colonel Hogan, are _failing_ to convince _me_, that you weren't the one who met Baum last night. The trail led in this direction." Hochstetter tapped the leather stick under Hogan's chin.

Hogan, grateful the leather crop was no longer pressing into his throat, raised his chin in avoidance of its possible return. "I don't know how other POW camps are run, but Kommandant Klink frowns on us just getting up and leaving."

"So you say," Hochstetter purred. Then, dragging the riding crop across Hogan's neck, the Major traced the path a blade would make while cutting a throat.

Hogan pulled back slightly, irritably aware of the insinuated threat, and imagined himself grabbing the whip away from Hochstetter and ramming it down his throat!

"American humor! But he's right." Klink laughed nervously. "Nobody walks away from my camp." Puffing up with pride, he added, "I run a model prison camp. There are no escapes."

Hochstetter made a noise between a laugh and a growl as he dragged the tip of the riding crop up the side of Hogan's face. "Yes, I've heard that before, but perhaps there will be a different story after I talk with my prisoner." The look on Hochstetter's face turned cold.

– _Snap! – _The swagger stick cracked against Hogan's cheek.

"Ugh!" The American Colonel jerked, turning his head to the side, as his hands reflexively left the arms of the chair and balled into fists. The sting of the strike spread out across his cheek, gradually changing to heat. Only pure gut-wrenching self-control stopped him from making contact with the egotistic maniac standing in front of him.

"_Major Hochstetter_!" Klink, admonished, as he took an impulsive step toward Hochstetter thinking to snatch his riding crop away. However, self-preservation won out and, he stopped himself in time. He quickly changed his focus to Hogan, afraid of what the American might do, and was surprised, but pleased, to see him still sitting in his chair.

Hochstetter smirked. The taunting gleam in his eyes aimed directly at Hogan.

Sweat ran down Hogan's temple as he clenched and unclenched his fists in frustration. Gritting his teeth against the sting, he glared at Hochstetter, fighting back his willingness to play into Hochstetter's web_. Just one punch, that's all I want…_

_Don't do it, Hogan! He's baiting you. I can't protect you if you assault a German officer. _Klink thought, as he watched Hogan flex his hands one last time before again gripping the arms of the chair.

The muscles in Hogan's jaw tensed. _Keep it under control, _he ordered himself. _That's what he's after. One aggressive act and he'll have me. I'll be at the mercy of the Gestapo. _He swallowed his pride and almost breathlessly, repeated, "Like I told you, Major, I've been right here."

"Bah!" Annoyance showed on Hochstetter's face. _Come at me, Hogan! You know you want to._

The skin on Hogan's left cheek tightened and burned as a welt puffed up under the riding crop.

Hochstetter admired the welt, caressing it with the end of the leather crop, still trying to provoke Hogan into action. _Maybe I'll give you one on your other cheek, too, _he thought, before denying himself the pleasure and whipping the riding crop back down to his side. "Keep Colonel Hogan available, Kommandant. I may want to talk to him later."

Klink headed for the door. "Colonel Hogan will be here, where he always is, but if you plan on interrogating my prisoner, you will have to get permission from General Burkhalter. Colonel Hogan is Luftwaffe property, and as long as he is in my possession, he is under my protection." Klink opened the door and looked at the Gestapo Major.

_Property?_ The word ate at Hogan and he shot a fiery glare at Klink.

"Interesting choice of words Kommandant! But possession can change in the blink of an eye. It only takes the word of a loyal German citizen…or the confession of a traitor to the Fatherland." Hochstetter threw Klink's riding crop down on the desk. "We are moving Baum to Berlin tonight on the Berlin Express, until then I will be trying to get at the truth. After that I may be back to finish my discussion with Colonel Hogan. And I won't need General Burkhalter's permission." Hochstetter stormed out of the room.

"I'm sorry, Colonel Hogan, I…" Klink began, as he walked back to his desk.

"Am I dismissed?" Hogan's anger was evident. Gritting his teeth to keep from saying more, he snapped his eyes up from where he had been staring at the front of Klink's desk.

Respecting Hogan's need to deal with his humiliation in private, Klink answered, "Yes, Colonel Hogan, you are dismissed."

Hogan stood to leave.

"Colonel, Hogan, don't do anything foolish!"

"Who me? What can I possibly do from a POW camp?" Hogan hissed as he went for the door. _If there weren't so many lives depending on me I'd show you who's **property**, Kommandant!_ _You' wake up one morning to an empty prison camp and I'd be dropping bombs on Berlin_ _by breakfast!_

"Oh, Hogan …" Klink began. "I still want the water back on in the kitchen and I expect you to see that your men get it done." _That ought to keep you out of trouble for awhile, _Klink thought.

Hogan did not answer and Klink did not press it. Instead, Hogan grabbed the door handle, and without turning to offer a salute, stormed out.

The outer office was deserted and he paused before reaching the outer door to touch his, now partially numb, cheek, and to shake off some of the anger consuming him. Pulling his hand away, he expected to see blood, and was relieved to find none.

_Must not have broken the skin_. _That's something at least._

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a settling breath and stepped outside. The cool air soothed his burning cheek and he stopped on the porch to let the fire in both his cheek and heart die down. _Someday, Hochstetter, someday we'll have our showdown! Regardless of who wins thise war. _After a few more seconds, he stepped off the porch to join his waiting men.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Has he come out yet?" LeBeau asked rounding the corner of barrack five. Then seeing the Gestapo staff car stopped cold, "Oh no! Hochstetter's back?"

"Yeah, the Colonel hasn't come out yet, but Hochstetter has, and he headed to the cooler. No doubt to try and find out who his prisoner contacted last night," Newkirk answered, leaning against Barrack Two and taking another drag from his cigarette.

Carter looked up from the bench he was sitting on and asked, "I thought the Colonel was just going to talk Klink into sending Schultz into town for the pipe and be back."

"Oui, that was the plan, but we weren't expecting Hochstetter back so soon," Louis answered, looking at Carter, who was kicking at a rock to relieve his nervous energy.

Newkirk glanced from his friends back to Klink's office. "Heads up, ere he comes." Tossing his cigarette butt, he joined the others as they walked toward Hogan.

"Any problems with Klink, Colonel?" Newkirk asked.

"No, everything's set up. Klink will send Schultz for the supplies."

LeBeau's eyes landed on the angry red welt on Hogan's cheek "That pig," LeBeau hissed.

"Forget it!" Hogan snapped. Then he asked, "Did Hochstetter go directly to the cooler?"

"Yeah, Colonel. Is he starting his interrogation?" Carter asked.

Hogan turned and looked toward the cooler and nodded without answering. He had spent time with Hochstetter there himself, and knew what was happening. _Hang on, Baum. We need a little time._

"Mon Colonel, are you all right?" LeBeau asked, ducking around to stand in front of Hogan, trying to read his face.

Hogan glanced at Louis frowning. "I'm fine! It's Baum that's going through Hell." He quickly turned away from LeBeau's scrutinizing eyes and faced Carter, "Carter, are your noisemakers and smoke bombs ready?"

Carter, distracted by the realization of what had been going on inside of Klink's office, hesitated, "Yes, sir." He couldn't help staring at the red mark on Hogan's cheek.

"Don't just stand there staring at me, get that list of supplies you need together and give it to Schultz. Where's Kinch?" Hogan asked in a clipped voice.

"He's down in the tunnel, Colonel, getting the message ready for the Underground," Newkirk answered.

Hogan nodded and shot another quick glance at the cooler, before looking at Carter. "Carter, get our _message box_ and meet me and Kinch downstairs." Hogan headed for the barracks…and a few minutes alone.

Louis watched as Hogan carried on like nothing had happened and his own fury rose within him. A string of French words spewed forth in a rush as Louis expressed his anger.

"I don't know what you just said, but I agree," Carter looked over his shoulder in time to see Hogan absentmindedly rub his injured cheek before jerking his hand away so as not to be seen, and disappearing into Barracks Two.

"Come on, the gov'nor will sort it out. We've got work to do." _Bloody Krauts! _Newkirk swore to himself. "You better get going, Andrew. You don't want to keep the Colonel and Kinch waiting. We have to get that box with the message for the Underground, secured to the truck before Schultz leaves."

Carter nodded, "Right, Newkirk."

"Louis, let's make up that list for Schultz." Newkirk gave LeBeau an encouraging pat on the shoulder."

"Oui, mon ami, and then I'm going to stick pins in my Hochstetter doll!"

Newkirk pulled back and looked at LeBeau, questioningly, "I didn't know you practiced voodoo Louis?"

"I don't." Louis mumbled, "But for Hochstetter, I'm willing to learn!"

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

**_Later in the tunnel_**.

"There, that ought to do it. Carter, you, Newkirk, and LeBeau get this in place under the truck." Hogan handed the container holding their message to Carter.

"Yes, sir, right away!"

As Carter hurried off, Kinch took the opportunity to debrief his commanding officer. "So Hochstetter went down to beat a confession out of our contact; do you think he'll sell us out?"

Hogan shook his head. "It was dark. We didn't make any introductions. He only knew me by Papa Bear and he hasn't seen me here. Now, what other information he has that he could tell, I don't know, and we can't ask London as long as that radio detection truck is in the compound. "So, just to be safe, we've got to get him away from the Gestapo." Hogan grew quiet and in a whisper added, "If he can just hold out until tonight."

Kinch could see the pain in Hogan's eyes. The knowledge of what was happening a few hundred yards away, but not being able to do anything to stop it ate at his commanding officer. "Do you think our diversion will cause enough commotion to pull off some of those SS guards from the transport truck? Kinch asked.

"Mmm." Letting loose of his own haunting memories of time spent with the Gestapo, Hogan took a sip of coffee and nodded. "Hochstetter will have to leave some of them here to guard us. That should lower the guards around Baum, and help the Underground get Baum off that truck before they get him to the Berlin Express."

"And," Kinch continued, "when Hochstetter finds out what happened, he'll move his troops _and_ the radio detection truck out of camp and to the other side of Hammelburg. Allowing us to radio London," Kinch nodded.

Hogan looked at Kinch, "And leaving Hochstetter holding the bag!"


	5. Chapter 5

The T.V. show Hogan's Heroes belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Productions. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended

Chapter Five

Getting It Together

"Schultz, what can I do for you today?" Otto asked.

"They've sent me to get some pipe and parts to repair our water line." Schultz mumbled as he lumbered into the store. Taking the list from his pocket, he unfolded it and handed it to the storekeeper.

Otto looked at it, and rubbed his chin, "Mmm, this will take a few minutes to gather up. Come to the back with me and we can talk while I get this for you. We haven't seen each other for some time. How are your wife and children?"

Schultz waddled along behind as they disappeared into the back room.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Otto should have had time to get Schultz to the back of the store. Come let's get it quick before they finish."

Gunther and Rudolph, dressed in civilian clothes, casually began walking down the sidewalk toward the truck. "I'll stand lookout, get under there and get it—and do it fast." Rudolph looked quickly up and down the street.

"Are you sure it is under the truck and not on the motor?" Gunther asked.

"The coded message over the phone said plan B. That means it's below the truck. Now get…hold it!"

Rudolph grabbed Gunther's arm and started walking. Gunther soon saw the reason. Two SS officers had rounded the corner, and were walking toward them and the truck. Sweat began to form under Gunther's suit as they continued on past the two black clad officers. Once passed they slowed their steps, still hoping to go back and get the message from Papa Bear, but a quick glance over their shoulders told them all might be lost, as the two officers stopped at the truck and began looking it over.

"Now what do we do?" Gunther asked.

Rudolph bent to tie his shoe, "Pray they don't look under that truck! If they don't move on soon, we won't…uh oh, too late. Here comes Schultz! Let's get out of here."

Schultz sauntered out of the store with his arms full of plumbing supplies. The two SS officers turned to look at him as he approached.

Schultz seeing the men in black, swallowed hard, and thought about walking on, pretending he knew nothing about the truck, but decided that that would only make him look guilty of…something, especially when they discovered the truck came from Stalag 13. And they _would_ discover the truck came from Stalag 13. Besides, how would he get his plumbing supplies back?. So instead, he tried to salute.

"Who are you and what are you doing?" the officers asked as they accosted Schultz.

"I…I…I am Sergeant Schultz from Stalag 13. The Kommandant sent me to pick up these supplies," Schultz answered nervously.

"Let us see your orders."

"Jawohl!" Schultz reached for his pocket and his load began to shift, forcing him to make a mad grab to regain control. "I need to put these down to get to my papers, Herr Major."

The Major motioned Schultz to the rear of the truck and after a few more minutes of fumbling, Schultz managed to get the supplies into the back of the truck. With his arms now cleared, he handed the SS officer his papers. The Major looked them over, and said, "The Gestapo and SS are conducting a search for some traitors to the Fatherland. They have stolen some important documents. Have you seen anybody suspicious or out of place, Sergeant?"

Schultz hurriedly answered, "Nein, Herr Major, I've seen nothing! I only leave the camp for supplies and that is not often."

"The Major nodded. "Your papers say you are stationed at Stalag 13. Isn't that where Major Hochstetter is holding the prisoner he caught last night?"

"Ja," Schultz answered casually making a disgusted face, and then realizing his mistake, straightened and more formally confirmed, "Jawohl, Herr Major."

"These seem to be in order, Sergeant." Looking thoughtfully at Schultz, the Major nodded, handing him back his papers, and commented, "Well, since Major Hochstetter is at Stalag 13, we will assume all is as it should be there. You may go, Sergeant."

"Danke, Herr Major," Schultz saluted…and saluted again nervously.

"Keep your eyes open, Sergeant, and tell us if you see anything unusual."

"I don't want to see anything…I mean, Jawohl, Herr Major," Schultz saluted again, before making his way behind the wheel. _Oh, boy! Tell them if I see anything unusual they say. If I told them what I've seen, they wouldn't believe me…or they'd have me shot! What am I saying…I've seen nothing…nothing!_

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hogan looked at his watch and frowned. Throwing the pencil he had _borrowed _from Klink down on his table, he crossed his room and opened the door. Looking around the common room, his eyes fell on LeBeau, "Not back yet?"

LeBeau shook his head. "Do you think something went wrong?" he asked, as he closed the outside door and leaned against the wall.

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Hogan paced to the middle of the room.

"What could go wrong, Colonel? I mean, we've sent Schultz into town with messages lots of times," Newkirk said, throwing down a card.

Hogan paced back to his office.

Looking at the card Newkirk had tossed down, Kinch frowned and said, "Yeah, but Hammelburg and the surrounding countryside is full of SS looking for those stolen plans."

Hogan quietly disappeared into his room.

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Schultz slammed on his brakes as he came around the curve. _What is this? _The truck jolted to a stop. "Potatoes?"

A man dressed in farm clothes excitedly approached the truck. "I'm sorry, but my horse got scared by a rabbit and my cart spilled. It won't take long for me to pick them up."

Schultz frowned, "This happened because of a bunny?"

Gunther nodded, putting his hands on his hips he turned and looked at the mess shaking his head, "It's amazing what one little bunny can do! Please, Sergeant, I depend on selling these at the market, allow me to pick up my potatoes before you pass."

Schultz's, anxious to get back to the safety of the prison camp, moaned, but his good hearted nature left him no choice. "All right, but hurry, I'm already late getting back to Stalag 13."

The farmer looked at Schultz and slyly suggested, "It would go faster if you helped."

Schultz made a face, _I'd rather nap, _he thought.

"I'll give you some of my potatoes, if you will give me a hand," the farmer tempted.

Schultz perked up. "How many potatoes?"

"Ten," Gunther promised.

"Twelve," Schultz countered.

"Ja, ja, twelve," Gunter agreed.

Schultz climbed out of the truck and began tossing potatoes back into the _farmer's_ cart.

"So you are one of the brave soldiers guarding us from the enemy prisoners," Gunther acknowledged.

"Well …" Schultz began.

As the two talked Rudolph crept out of the woods and slid under the truck. He looked frantically for the message box. _Where is…there…that's it. _

"I hear the prisoners are always trying to escape," Gunther continued.

"You do?" Schultz said, surprised.

"Ja, and they fashion weapons out of anything they can get their hands on. And they spit at you when you take them their food. Oh it must be terrible to work there. You are very brave, Sergeant."

Underneath the truck, Rudolph quickly opened the box without removing it from the frame and took out the message, then, just as quickly, placed his own message back inside.

Back at the potato cart, Schultz puffed up at the mention of his bravery and boasted, "Ja, you have to keep your eyes open all the time. You have to be very strong with them and let them know who is boss."

"I'm glad we have men like you there to keep them in their place. It makes me feel better to know there has never been a prisoner able to escape thanks to men like you."

"No one ever escapes from Sergeant Schultz!" Schultz bragged.

"You are too clever for them!" the farmer praised as he looked beyond Schultz to the truck and saw his accomplice disappearing back into the woods. "Danke, Sergeant, thank you for your help. Here, for one of our brave fighting men, a bag of potatoes!

Schultz smiled. "Danke, these will taste very good made into potato pancakes." He licked his lips at the thought.

"I have delayed you long enough; you had better get on your way," Gunther encouraged.

"Ja," Schultz agreed and, taking his bag of potatoes, headed for the truck.

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Schultz's back, Colonel!" Carter announced, bursting into the barrack from the compound.

"Finally!" Hogan answered, setting his coffee down and heading for the door. "Let's go find out what took him so long. Newkirk, you and Carter get our letter carrier off the truck while we distract him. All we need is for Hochstetter to go nosing around and find it."

"Right, Colonel." Newkirk tossed his cards down and pulled his cap out of his belt.

"Be careful. The camp's full of Hochstetter's men waiting to catch us doing something wrong," Hogan reminded, as they all headed out the door.

"Oui, they even inspected my laundry before they would let me hang it up. Now, what did they think I was hiding in there?"

Kinch followed Hogan out the door. Walking next to his commanding officer as they made their way to the motor pool, he lowered his voice saying, "I'll feel much better when Baum is in the hands of the Underground."

"Me, too, Kinch. Things are getting a little too hot around here with the SS in camp and the Gestapo wolves outside the wire."

Schultz had just parked the truck, when he was immediately accosted by three questioning POWs.

"Hi ya, Schultz!" Hogan greeted. "Did you get the pipes and fittings?"

"Ja, ja, they are in the back." Schultz got out of the truck pulling his bag of potatoes after him.

"What do you have in the sack, Schultzie?" LeBeau asked.

"Potatoes," Schultz proudly announced.

"So that's what took you so long, you went to the market," Hogan guessed.

"Nein, I helped a farmer with a spilled potato cart on my way back to camp and he gave me some potatoes," Schultz answered.

"A spilled potato cart?" Hogan questioned.

"Ja after the SS stopped me in town…"

Hogan, Kinch, and LeBeau, looked at each other. "The SS stopped you in town?" Hogan quickly asked.

"Ja they were waiting at my truck for me when I came out of the store." Schultz started to walk toward the kitchen.

"Wait a minute Schultz, is that it? Is that all that happened? They just waited for you at the truck?" Hogan asked.

"Yeah, Schultz, I didn't know they just stopped people and talked to them normally," Kinch said.

"Oui, they didn't arrest anyone while they were waiting for you to come out of the store?" LeBeau asked.

"Nein," Schultz answered, looking at the three puzzled. "Who would they…? Why are you so asking if they arrested somebody?"

"No reason, Schultz, we just find it odd that they would stop you when you obviously hadn't done anything to arouse their suspicions. What kind of questions did they ask?" Hogan continued.

"They just wanted to see my papers."

"That's it?" Hogan asked.

"Ja…" Schultz looked at the three prisoners suspiciously. "Colonel Hogan, are you up to something?" Schultz questioned.

"Me, Schultz? Now, what could I be up to?" Hogan immediately changed the subject, "Hey Schultz, instead of taking all of this stuff out of the truck why don't we just pull the truck over to the maintenance hut and pull it out as we need it? There's really not room enough to take all this inside and still have space enough to work."

Schultz thought for a moment and nodded, "Ja, ja, go ahead. I'll meet you there after I drop off these potatoes with the cook."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Back it up a little more…more…more…stop! That's good Louis," Hogan called out.

Hogan felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder from behind him and before he knew it, he was shoved into the building he was standing next to. "Hold it," Hogan protested. He had brought his hands up to keep from slamming face first into the wall and the guards now pulled them behind his head. Hogan took the hint and clasped his fingers together keeping his hands in full view.

"What are you doing?" one of the SS sentries, brought in to double the guards inside of the camp, demanded.

"Hey…" Kinch began to protest but was stopped by a gun barrel pointed at his mid section. Kinch following the motioning of the second guard raised his hands, too.

Louis ducked back behind the truck as soon as he saw what was happening, and ran to get Schultz.

The SS guard began patting Hogan down.

"What do you think I have?" Hogan asked incredulously. "I'm a POW!"

Hogan again felt a hand on his shoulder and was spun around to face the guard.

"What are you doing with that truck?" the guard demanded.

"Sergeant Schultz told us to bring it over here, so we could finish our work," Hogan answered.

"I do not see Sergeant Schultz." The SS soldier motioned with his gun for Hogan to start walking in the direction of the cooler.

Hogan and Kinch had barely gone twenty feet, when Shultz followed by LeBeau appeared. "What is going on here?" Schultz asked, approaching the guards. "I am guarding these men!"

"Schultz!" Hogan exclaimed, relieved to see his friendly guard. "Would you tell these guys we've got permission to be here?"

The guard looked at Schultz, "Major Hochstetter has ordered we bring anyone who is breaking the rules or looks suspicious to him" Gesturing to Hogan and Kinch he added, "We found these men with that truck."

Schultz waved his hand dismissively, "Nein, these prisoners have been ordered to fix the water lines by the Kommandant. I told them to bring the truck over here, so we could get our supplies out of it."

The guard, keeping his gun trained on Hogan, stepped over to the truck and looked in the back, then lowered his gun and holstered it. Looking at the second SS guard he nodded and the other guard lowered his gun, also.

As the two guards went back to their patrol, Hogan and Kinch lowered their arms.

"Thanks, Schultz," Hogan sighed. "I wasn't looking forward to seeing Hochstetter, even if I hadn't done anything wrong."

"I better not leave you boys alone for awhile." Schultz looked around at the changes that had taken place in camp since he had been in town.

"Man, Hochstetter's not taking any chances on you getting away is he, Colonel?" Kinch asked, just as another guard appeared from around the corner of the building.

Hogan pulled his shoulders back and smirked, "Hochstetter's feeling the heat."

LeBeau came up behind Hogan, "Do you notice how they tend to gather on whatever side of the camp you're on, Colonel?"

"Which is another reason, why there should be no monkey business," Schultz said.

Hogan began to answer and stopped, "Yeah, I…"

Kinch looked up at Hogan and followed his gaze—Hochstetter was exiting the cooler.

"Do you think he's done interrogating Baum?" LeBeau asked.

Before Hogan could answer, Hochstetter had taken notice of him and was making his way over.

"Oh boy," Schultz turned his back to the approaching Hochstetter, "Colonel Hogaaan…" Schultz began, he wanted to warn Hogan to not cause any trouble but he was too late; Hochstetter had arrived.

Hochstetter sauntered up and stopped in front of Hogan. No words were exchanged. The Gestapo Major removed his bloody gloves and, smiling, emitted a low guttural sound before turning and heading to the visitor's quarters.

Hogan looked from Hochstetter to the cooler. _I can imagine what you've been up to, Hochstetter._ He opened and closed his fist in frustration at not being able to prevent it.

"What was that about?" Carter asked as he and Newkirk joined the others.

"Just a little show of force," Hogan answered. He's trying to make me worry about what Baum's saying."

"Well, it's working. I'm plenty scared!" Newkirk admitted.

"He doesn't have anything, if he did, he wouldn't be wasting time _trying_ to scare me. He'd drag me to the cooler and do it right," Hogan said.

"How could he have anything on you?" Schultz asked.

"He can't, Schultz. But since when has Hochstetter let that stop him?" Hogan answered.

Schultz looked at Hogan suspiciously and then decided to drop it. "Okay, let's get started on fixing the pipes. I don't want to be up guarding you all night." Schultz dragged himself and his rifle over to the bench outside the maintenance hut and sat down.

"Okay fellas lets check out the supplies," Hogan ordered, while Schultz yawned and stretched, settling in for a nap. Making their way to the back of the truck, Hogan looked at Carter and Newkirk, lowered his voice and asked, "Any problems getting our letter carrier off the truck?"

"No," Newkirk answered, sounding puzzled.

Hogan, looked questioningly at Newkirk, "Something wrong?"

Colonel," Newkirk pulled a piece of potato peel out of his pocket. "This was in the box when we opened it. How do you suppose it got in there?"

Hogan picked it up and smiling nodded. "It's the Underground's way of letting us know they had to arrange their own pick-up point." Passing the potato peel back to Newkirk, Hogan warned, "Watch it: goons!"

Newkirk slipped the peel back in his jacket and moved to examine some pipe fittings.

LeBeau tugged on Hogan's sleeve, "Mon Colonel," he said nodding in the direction of the kitchen.

A guard carrying a covered tray was on his way to the guest quarters.

"Guess, Hochstetter's just taking a lunch break," Kinch said.

"Yeah, I guess even he has to eat," Carter added.

Hogan rubbed his chin, irritating the bruised skin on his cheek, reminding him that he owed Hochstetter a _thank you_. He glanced at Schultz sitting on the bench with his eyes closed and said, "LeBeau, Newkirk, I want you two to get back to making it look like you're working on the water problem. Focus on repairing our boiler…" Hogan's voice trailed off as an idea came to him. "Louis, Kinch give them a hand, and when Hochstetter goes back to the cooler, work your way to the guest quarters and turn the hot water off."

LeBeau rubbed his hands together smiling with delight, "Oui, Colonel, with pleasure!"

"Working on _our_ boiler, I understand, Colonel," Newkirk stated. "It won't take long."

"I want you to stretch out the repairs. Don't get any water back to the kitchen yet. I need to have you welding into the night, and I need you outside next to the truck. When Hochstetter moves Baum, and the fun begins, I want Hochstetter acting on instinct. He needs to think we're using Baum's transfer out of camp as a diversion for an escape attempt."

"More guards," Kinch warned.

The five milled around the truck, until they passed.

"What if Hochstetter doesn't buy it, Colonel?" Carter asked.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at Carter. Hogan wouldn't allow that thought into his head. Looking back at the others, he asked, "Does everybody understand what they're doing?"

"Oui, Colonel," LeBeau answered, while frowning at Carter.

This time, knowing there were no other alternatives, even Newkirk did not want to acknowledge the possibility of something going wrong and shook his head, saying, "Sounds like a marvelous plan to me, sir!"

Kinch nodded and moved toward Carter.

"Good, let's get to work then," Hogan turned to go to his office.

Carter, wondering why his question wasn't acknowledged, drew in a breath to repeat it, and Kinch quickly placed his hand over Carter's mouth. Hogan continued on, as did half the guards patrolling that side of the camp.

Kinch removed his hand and looked at Carter.

Newkirk, took his hat off and popped Carter on the head. "What do you think you're doing?"

Louis, pressed against Carter as he reached into the truck pretending to examine a fitting.

Carter looked at his friends and said, "I'm sorry, I just thought…"

"No, you didn't," Louis answered.

"Andrew," Kinch began, "We all know the 'what if's', but we have no choice. We have to do something, and voicing the possibilities of something going wrong doesn't help."

"Sorry," Carter mumbled.

Louis softened, "That's okay you didn't say anything the rest of us weren't thinking."

"Yeah," Newkirk added. "just next time, wait until the gov'nor can't hear you, so we can all panic, secretly, together."


	6. Chapter 6

The T.V. show Hogan's Heroes belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Productions. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended

Chapter Six

Give And Take

"All right you guys listen up," Hogan said as he exited his quarters, ending his seclusion. He had been holed up there since Schultz dismissed them for dinner. "Schultz will be back to get us in a few minutes and I've got a little change of plans." Hogan rested his right foot on the bench next to the table and leaned toward his men.

Kinch, Carter, and Newkirk were finishing their coffee, as LeBeau placed their tin plates in the sink. Wiping his hands on his makeshift apron, LeBeau joined the others at the table and took a seat.

"Is something wrong, Colonel?" LeBeau asked

With a thoughtful nod, Hogan said, "We're cutting it close getting these plans out."

"What choice do we have, Colonel? We have to get Hochstetter and his radio detection truck out of here if we're going to be able to contact London," Newkirk said, looking questioningly at his commanding officer.

"And," Kinch added, "we have to get Baum away from the Gestapo."

"That's just it; maybe we're going about this all wrong. Once we get Hochstetter to pull some of the guards off of Baum to calm down our riot, he still has to be content that we're under control before he will pull his extra guards out of the woods. Even if he moves the truck, he's going to keep the guards doubled for a couple of days just to be sure," Hogan looked hard into the faces staring back at him.

"So what are you saying, Colonel?" Kinch asked. The hair on his arms began to stand up as he realized Hogan's insightfulness was usually dead on. "Are we going to be too late?"

"Not if I can help it…" Hogan paused, "…not if _we_ can help it!" he amended. It's going to take all of us and it's going to be risky. If we're caught it will mean the firing squad and…Hochstetter will get his promotion." Hogan waited for his statement to sink in.

"We can't let them set up a weather station. That would give them too much of an advantage. Not to mention our boys on the Berwick and the other cruisers wouldn't be prepared, we could lose a lot of men," Newkirk said, thinking out loud.

"Oui, Colonel, we have to get that information to London," Louis agreed

"But how, we can't radio London and even if we did get a radio message to London, we wouldn't be able to get by the SS patrolling the woods?" Carter asked.

Kinch spoke up, "Are you saying what I think you're saying, Colonel?"

Hogan looked at Kinch and nodded. "We've got to get these attack plans out tonight."

"But the only one leaving camp is…" Carter began and was joined by four other voices.

"_Baum_!"

"Blimey, gov'nor, are you going to give them back to Baum?" Newkirk asked.

"No, Newkirk," Hogan took his foot off the bench and straightened. "You are."

"I am? I'm going to have the Nazi's battle plans on me? What if Hochstetter decides to search us for some reason?" Newkirk asked.

"Why would he search us? He already has!" LeBeau asked.

"Yeah, but if we start a riot, you know they're going to search us again!" Carter said.

"Carter's right, Colonel," Kinch agreed. "In fact he may search us before he brings Baum out of the cooler, since we're going to be out of the barracks after lights out, working on the water lines."

Hogan nodded, "I've thought of that too, which is why I'm going to carry the plans."

"You, Colonel?" Kinch exclaimed. "If Hochstetter decides to search us, he'll search you first!"

"Yeah! That's right! Oui!" the others agreed.

Hogan averted his eyes from his men, and looked at the table as he answered, "I know." Looking back up, he continued, "I said it was risky. But our alternative is to sit on these attack plans and do nothing! And as Newkirk said, we could lose a lot of men not to mention a weather station giving the Nazi's the advantage and costing us even more lives. I'm not willing to do that." Hogan's voice lowered, he hated justifying the loss of lives based on percentages, but that was the reality of war, and whether he liked it or not, it was his job to make those decisions. "I think it's worth the risk." _Five lives against hundreds…possibly thousands, _he reminded himself in an effort to assure himself it was the _right_ decision.

After a short silence, Kinch nodded, surrendering to the logic, as did Newkirk, Carter, and LeBeau.

Hogan acknowledged their consent by continuing, "I'll pass the attack plans off to Newkirk as Carter starts setting off his firecrackers. Hochstetter will be looking for me soon after that. You guys divert his attention to the truck and my absence. The barracks will be emptying out by then and in the confusion, Newkirk, you get those plans planted on Baum. Nobody will check Baum, because he just came from the cooler and they'll think he's clean."

"Where will you be, Colonel? I mean after the truck catches on fire," Carter asked.

"I'm going to be lost in the confusion. When Hochstetter doesn't see me right away he'll think he was right, and that I'm running before Baum talks. He'll pull everyone he can to hunt me down."

LeBeau spoke up, "That means you're going to have to stay out of sight for awhile, Colonel."

"Just long enough for Baum to be on his way…and long enough that it wouldn't be possible for Hochstetter to send more guards to catch up," Hogan answered.

"Still, Colonel, there's going to have to be a reason, or when Baum is freed by the Underground, Hochstetter's going to question your involvement," Kinch warned. "What are you going to tell him?"

Hogan frowned and admitted, "I haven't got a clue!" And then with the familiar wave of the hand, added, "But I'll think of something by then."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Colonel Hogan!" Klink had had another round with his cook and was irritated to the point of accepting no excuses from his senior POW officer. There was still no water in the kitchen.

Hogan stood in front of Klink's desk, hat in hand, apologetically looking at the floor.

"I thought you told me you would have the water back to the kitchen before nightfall. The sun has set and there is still no water! What is your explanation?"

Hogan looked up, "It takes time to find and replace all the bad pipes. We're doing the best we can!" Hogan answered.

"Your best is not good enough!" Klink exclaimed.

"Kommandant…" Hogan began.

"_Silence!_ I'm not interested in your excuses. I want water and you and your men will work all night if that's what it takes."

"All night?" Hogan questioned, with a frown on his face, as he thought, _That's__ exactly what I hoped you would say. _"Kommandant, my men have been working on this all day…digging up pipe, putting in new, repairing connections, they're tired!"

Hochstetter opened the door and quietly stepped in on the feud.

"Hogan, I'm not interested. You and your men will _rest_ when the work is _done_. Now get back to work! "

"I…"

"Dismissssssed!" Klink said with a wave of his hand and no longer looking at his senior POW officer.

Hogan, still frowning, flipped off a terse salute. "_Yes, sir_!"

Turning, Hogan took a step and almost ran into Hochstetter. He stopped abruptly and then continuing his charade of anger at being ordered to continue working on the water lines, scowled and stepped around the Gestapo Major.

Hochstetter smirked and, admiring the still slightly red stripe on Hogan's cheek, turned watching the disgruntled American officer storm out.

"Trouble, Kommandant?" Hochstetter purred, turning back to Klink, delighted with the show.

Hogan paused on the other side of the door to listen.

Klink looked at Hochstetter, his adrenalin still high after his confrontation with Hogan, and barked, "Nothing I can't handle. Now, what can I do for you?"

"Nothing, I just stopped to tell you, I'll be taking Baum to Berlin as planned, for more intensive questioning."

Klink mellowed, slightly and smugly asked, "You didn't get the information from him you were hoping for?"

"Don't look so happy, Klink. When I get through with Herr Baum in Berlin, I will know all about his rendezvous in the woods and I have no doubt I will be back."

Hogan had heard enough. They were still in the game. He hurried back to his men with the news.

"Just as I thought! There is no connection with my Stalag!" Klink said, relieved.

Hochstetter gritted his teeth and talking between them said, "Don't celebrate yet, Herr Kommandant!"

"You do not worry me, Major. If there was a connection, you would know by now."

Hochstetter grew more red-faced. It was true; he could not get Baum to name Hogan as his accomplice. The only thing he admitted to was that he had met with "Papa Bear", but it was too dark to see him clearly and he was dressed in black with black camouflage markings on his face.

"I have phoned General Burkhalter about your accusations. He was not happy," Klink cheerfully informed Hochstetter.

"Bah," Hochstetter bellowed in frustration and snapped the well worn gloves he was holding, against his left palm. "As I said, I'm not finished with this yet!" Hochstetter turned and walked to the door. "I'm going to go and get cleaned up before I leave for Berlin."

"By all means, Major," Klink answered. "Feel free to use our guest quarters." _As if you need my permission, _Klink thought.

Hochstetter opened the door, "Danke," he forced the thank you. It was unnecessary. _As if I need your permission, Kommandant!_

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Bah, the water started out warm! It wasn't until I was half through that it turned cold!" Hochstetter stood shivering in his robe. "I want Colonel Hogan and his men held accountable! This was a blatant attack on a German officer, Klink!" Hochstetter paced as he tried to warm up after his cold water rinse.

"Major, I assure you, it was not intentional. We were having problems with the plumbing, long before you came to camp." Klink guaranteed, trying to soothe Hochstetter.

"Herr Kommandant, the problem is fixed. It was just a loose connection in the repaired pipe," Schultz assured.

"See, Major, it was just a loose connection. All is well."

Hochstetter, hands on his hips stared at Klink. "Someday, Kommandant, Colonel Hogan is going to make a mistake you won't be able to cover up. Get out of here and let me get dressed. I have a prisoner to transfer."

"Right away. Let me know if I can do anything else for you."

"You have done enough!"

Klink and Schultz stepped out on the porch. "Tell me, Schultz, was Colonel Hogan responsible for this?"

"Herr Kommandant, I can't say that he…that is…it could have been…" Schultz struggled with his answer, not wanting to get anyone in trouble. There was already enough trouble in this war.

"_Schultz!_" Klink said, stopping Schultz. "Just tell me why there was no water."

Schultz slumped slightly in resignation. "The water going into the water heater was shut off, Herr Kommandant."

Klink's face reddened as he stormed off the porch.

"Colonel," Kinch called as he turned to face Hogan. "Here comes Klink. And he's coming from the guest quarters." Smiling Kinch added, "I think they've discovered their hot water problem."

Before Hogan could comment, Klink was standing in front of him. Looking Hogan in the face he asked, "Did you turn off the hot water in the guest quarters?"

"Yes we did," Hogan innocently answered without missing a beat. His men, surprised with the direct response from their Colonel, tried to look as innocent.

"Don't lie to me, I just came from Major Hochstetter…what'd you say?"

"I said, yes, we did turn the water off," Hogan affirmed.

"You admit to it?" Klink's mouth dropped open with surprise. He had expected the familiar "two step", where Hogan came up with a flimsy excuse.

"We had to break the water line going to the guest quarters, so we shut off the water going into the water heater, to keep the hot water inside the water heater from running out. This way the hot water could still be used." Hogan looked back at Klink innocently and leaned a little closer, "Is there a problem?"

"Major Hochstetter just called for me. He was taking a shower when he ran out of hot water."

Hogan laughed a self satisfied, 'you're kidding, but isn't that great' laugh.

"I wouldn't laugh too hard, Hogan. He wanted you and your men brought up on assault charges! If it wasn't for my quick thinking, you'd be in a lot of trouble right now!" Klink warned.

Schultz's eyes got big with surprise. _I thought it was **my** quick thinking. _

Hogan sobered. "Sorry, Kommandant. But how could _we_ know he was going to take an extra long shower? The water left in that water heater would have been enough water for most people."

Klink looked at Hogan suspiciously. "Colonel Hogan, I don't for one minute think you thought Hochstetter would have enough hot water. So don't bother to deny it." Klink softened, momentarily. "But I can't say that I'm sorry he was inconvenienced. However, in the future you will desist in pulling pranks on German officers. Do I make myself clear?"

Hogan looked back at Klink. "We didn't…" Hogan began his denial, but was interrupted by Klink.

"_Do I make myself clear?"_ Klink repeated with more force.

"Yes, sir." Hogan then lowered his voice as if to get his last denial in behind Klink's back. "But we didn't…"

"_Hogan!"_Klink shouted in frustration. Looking around at the pipe and parts littering the ground, he asked, "Are you about done?"

"Oh sure! In another three or four hour, we should be ready to run the connection back to the kitchen and then it should only be another hour or so, before we have the water back on in the kitchen," Hogan assured.

Klink looked at Hogan in awe, "You call that being about done?"

Hogan tilted his head. "Considering what we've already done…yeah."

Klink looked at the pipe-littered ground.

"Kommandant, I'm sure we could do a better job if you let us go to bed and start fresh in the morning. My men and I are…"

"Colonel Hogan," Klink interrupted, "you and your men will not sleep until this job is done. Now get back to work! Schultz, I'll be in my quarters." Klink turned and headed for _home_.

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant." Putting on a show for Klink, Schultz added, "You heard the Kommandant, get back to work." Then lowering his voice he said, "I'm going back to my bench."

"Right Schultzie, go back to sleep," Newkirk called out.

"Oui, we'll wake you when we're done!" LeBeau added.

Carter looked at his friends and smiled.

Hogan now assured that they would be left alone to _finish_ their work, mentally marked that task off of his list. Looking contentedly at his men, he said, "Well fellas, you heard the Kommandant, let's get back to work!"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


	7. Chapter 7

The T.V. show Hogan's Heroes belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Productions. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended

Chapter Seven

Ready—Set—Go

Hogan stood outside the maintenance hut with his men as Carter and Newkirk welded two pieces of pipe together. LeBeau and Kinch were at the back of the truck rummaging through plumbing connections and keeping their eyes on the guards, while Schultz remained slumped against the maintenance hut, quietly out of the way and sound asleep.

"Colonel," LeBeau called out. He was staring past Hogan, the muscles in his face hard and tense.

Hogan turned and immediately understood LeBeau's alarm. Bracing for impact he took in a deep breath. "Major Hochstetter, have you come to say goodbye?"

Hochstetter glared at Hogan, his fists flexed creating a creaking sound, as his leather gloves stretched with the tension. Tilting his head with an air of superiority, Hochstetter growled, "I know you deliberately managed to shut the hot water off, Hogan. I can't prove it, but I know it, just the same."

Hogan did not answer. He knew he should deny it, but part of him wanted Hochstetter to know that he had been "gotten".

"You may be able to fool Klink," Hochstetter continued, "but you can't fool me! And I suspect you have manipulated your way into being out here_ tonight_!"

Though Hogan let the first accusation go, the second one he had to deny. "Right, this is just how I wanted to spend my day, digging up and replacing water pipes," Hogan complained.

"I see that it's kept you outside after lights out!" Hochstetter observed.

"Believe me, if I was going to try and find a way to be outside after lights out, I wouldn't have picked something that was going to keep me doing back--breaking work all day!" Hogan's face flushed with the adrenalin that was pumping through his body.

Hochstetter stood staring at Hogan, studying his words and mannerisms, not sure how much to believe.

Hogan seeing Hochstetter's indecision didn't want to give him time to think. He had to force a split second decision—_now_! Stepping back and raising his arms out at his sides, he said, "Okay, you think we're up to something…search us…so we can get back to work and get this done! Klink isn't going to let us rest until we have the water back to the kitchen. So search us and let us get back to work!"

Hochstetter stepped forward, forced Hogan's outstretched arms up a bit higher and unzipped the American's jacket, his hands now only inches from the Nazi's naval attack plans for Reykjavik. Carter, Kinch, LeBeau, and Newkirk froze as Hogan and Hochstetter stared silently at each other. "Bah!" Hochstetter stepped back. "You're wasting my time. I have a better idea!" Turning, Hochstetter stormed off to the cooler, followed by his two guards.

Hogan lowered his arms sagging slightly. His adrenalin rush had abandoned him, but his men had not. They were at his side before his tunnel vision cleared, allowing him to see more than just the retreating Gestapo Major.

Louis let out a low whistle and fanned himself.

"Wow, that was close!" Carter whispered.

"Blimey, gov'nor, you 'bout gave me a heart attack!" Newkirk said, while patting his pockets in vain for a cigarette. "My whole life flashed in front of my eyes."

"Are you all right, Colonel?" Kinch asked.

The flush that had been there only moments before was now gone, replaced with paleness and a cold sweat, as the thought of what could have happened reared its ugly head.

Colonel?" Kinch searched Hogan's face for recognition.

Hogan blinked and jerked slightly, his heart now pounding in his chest. "Yeah," he answered breathlessly. Zipping his jacket part way up, he took in a deep breath and let it out saying, "Yeah…" Recovering from the near miss, he straightened and with his usual dogged determination, said, "Let's get in position, they'll be coming out soon."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hochstetter approached Baum's cell as Lieutenant Dresdner was pulling the prisoner to his feet.

"Did you get anything more out of him, Lieutenant?" Hochstetter asked.

"Nein, Herr Major. I didn't want to go too far. You said you wanted him conscious and able to walk out of here when we left."

"Yes," Hochstetter said smiling, "I have something to show Herr Baum on our way out." Hochstetter stood in front of Baum, who was being cuffed in preparation for his transfer. "The time has come for you to take a little trip. When we get you to Berlin, we'll see if we can't make your memory a little clearer, and then maybe you will be able to give us an identity to go along with the code name, 'Papa Bear'. "

"I told you, I couldn't see him well," Baum whispered. "He kept to the shadows and he was dressed in black." The words passed slightly muffled over swollen lips. "There was nothing to distinguish him."

Baum, unable to stand up straight after Hochstetter's interrogation efforts, stood slightly bent over, his face a mass of bruises. Hochstetter grabbed Baum by the chin, holding his head up to look his prisoner in the face. "I have somebody I want you to meet on the way out. I won't delay you long."

"Ugh," Baum groaned as Hochstetter's fingers pressed into the already swollen face. Hochstetter raised Baum's face higher, forcing him to straighten more than his sore injured abdominal muscles would allow. "Does that hurt? It's only a precursor to what is to come, if you don't tell me what I want to know. Remember that, because I'm going to give you one more opportunity to answer my questions." Hochstetter released his grip and tugged at the gloves on his hands, pulling them tight in anticipation. _I__f I'm right, I will have two prisoners to take to __Berlin__, and you, Herr Baum, will be allowed to face your firing squad without any further punishment. It will be my gift to you, in exchange for what you will be giving me._

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hogan looked at his watch.

"Why do you keep looking at your watch, Colonel Hogan?" Schultz asked yawning.

Hogan turned sharply, to look at the awakening Schultz. "I have a train to catch, Schultz," Hogan answered.

"What?" Schultz asked puzzled.

Hogan smiled. And Schultz, realizing Hogan was pulling his leg, frowned and mumbled, "Jolly joker!"

"I'm just trying to judge how much longer it's going to take us to finish this," Hogan lied.

"It can't be soon enough for me!" Schultz said.

"You? All you've had to do is sit there and watch us. We've done all the work," LeBeau pointed out.

"You think its easy sitting here making sure you boys behave? I've had to be alert every second," Schultz defended

"Yeah, yeah, Schultz, we know," LeBeau answered.

Kinch smiled at the conversation, doing his best to look relaxed.

Carter kept his eye on Hogan waiting for _the_ signal, as he and Newkirk worked behind their welder's masks. Newkirk worked as slowly as he could to keep everyone in position for the plan to go into action.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Klink set his schnapps down on the end-table and wiggled his feet where they rested on the footstool. He enjoyed ending his day with a quiet read and a relaxing drink. He didn't often have the opportunity. And this evening's opportunity was forced on him with the knowledge that Colonel Hogan and his men were not locked down in the barracks. He checked his watch. _I'll make a surprise visit and check on their progress, in another hour, _he thought. He would not have Hochstetter coming back and accusing him of being asleep and not knowing where his prisoners were or what they were doing should the underground decide to wreak havoc somewhere tonight. Turning the page in his book, he settled into his novel again.

Outside, the searchlights swept over a staff car as General Burkhalter passed through the gates unannounced. _Well it certainly looks calm enough, _he thought, as he took notice of the SS comprising half the guards in camp. Burkhalter rolled his eyes. _I see what Klink means. Hochstetter hasn't given up on Hogan. The Major needs to stick to the civilian population and leave Colonel Hogan to the Luftwaffe. _

The staff car pulled up in front of Klink's quarters and Burkhalter observed. _The lights are still on in the Kommandant's quarter. Klink must still be up. _Burkhalter looked at his watch and was surprised. _Hmm, something's keeping him up tonight, It's well past his usual bedtime. _Burkhalter climbed out of the car and ascended the steps to the porch. Pausing, he looked out across the quiet compound, content with the peacefulness he observed.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hochstetter exited the cooler with his prisoner and his eyes immediately sought Hogan out. _Now Colonel Hogan, we'll see if Baum recognizes you. _A satisfied smirk found its way onto Hochstetter's face as he thought. _And if he does, I'll have you in chains and on your way to the __Berlin__ Express, before Klink even knows you're gone. _

_vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv_

"General Burkhalter!" Klink jumped to his feet nearly dropping his monocle as Burkhalter strode in.

"At ease, Klink," Burkhalter ordered.

"General Burkhalter, what are you doing here?" Klink reached for his boots.

"I came to see that Major Hochstetter does not over-step his bounds."

"Oh," Klink waved off the concern and tugged on one of his boots. "Hochstetter is in the cooler, getting ready to transfer his prisoner."

"So that is why you're still up," Burkhalter concluded.

Klink cleared his throat. "Well, General, not exactly. Colonel Hogan and his men are working on our water outage and..."

"At this hour?" Burkhalter questioned.

"Yes, sir, it's a long story." Klink hoped to change the subject and offered, "Let me get you some schnapps, Herr General."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hogan watched the door to the cooler, expectantly. _Where are they?_ Checking his watch he impatiently crossed his arms in front of him and waited.

The guards at the door to the cooler snapped to attention. _Finally!_ Hogan thought as the door to the below ground prison opened. He drew in a deep breath andwaited until Hochstetter and his prisoner had cleared the gate into the compound. Then shrugging his shoulders as if chilled, Hogan zipped his half-closed jacket the rest of the way up.

LeBeau recognized the signal, grabbed a pipe fitting and began walking toward Hogan. "Ow!" LeBeau cried out as he stumbled over the end of the pipe Carter and Newkirk were working on, propelling them into the side of the truck as their end of the pipe swung around.

Carter purposely landed next to his explosives and hurriedly lit the fuse, setting off his display, before he and Newkirk moved away from the rapidly burning cord.

Hochstetter, oblivious to the activities taking place by the truck, motioned his two guards forward after he and Baum entered the compound. "Bring Colonel Hogan over here and be ready to take him on my command."

"Jawohl, Herr…"

_BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.!_

The earth shook. Hochstetter pulled his PPK pistol out of its holster, while diving to the ground amid a rain of sparks and burning debris. The guards followed his lead pulling Baum down with them.

As the Germans dove for the dirt, Newkirk and Hogan came together for the handoff. "Be careful, Newkirk"

"Don't worry about a thing, Colonel." Newkirk smiled. "I could do it with me eyes closed."

Hogan gave an encouraging pat to Newkirk's shoulder. Then the two quickly separated, going off in opposite directions as the second wave of explosions began.

Kinch signaled to the barracks and then joined Newkirk, Carter and LeBeau as they rushed over to Hochstetter creating more confusion.

Hogan had only gone a few feet when a hot piece of debris hit him in the back of the head, knocking him to one knee. In his daze, his hand sought out the source of the pain and found a warm oozing wound. Shaking his head, he stumbled to his feet as the onward rush of prisoners, swept past him. _I've got to get out of here before Hochstetter sees me. _Forcing himself to stay focused, he continued through the mob of prisoners and disappeared.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


	8. Chapter 8

The T.V. show Hogan's Heroes belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Productions. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended

Chapter Eight.

Baum's Away

Klink moved to where Burkhalter was seated and handed him his drink before returning to pour one for himself.

Taking a sip, Burkhalter leaned back in his chair, and said. "So Klink, tell me what's been happening with Major Hochstetter."

"Well…"

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.!

Klink spun around and listened for an instant as the camp sirens began to wail before running out the door. The Kommandant looked up while listening for the drone of enemy planes, but was soon distracted by a bright glow and a growing mob of voices.

"What is going on, Klink?" Burkhalter shouted, from the porch.

"It looks like something blew up."

"I know that! I don't hear any planes. What was it?" Burkhalter demanded.

"I don't know, that's where Colonel Hogan and his men were working on the plumbing…"

"That's where Colonel Hogan was…" Burkhalter stopped mid sentence. "This may be an escape attempt! Get all the searchlights focused inside the fence!" Burkhalter ordered. Klink left to deliver his orders and Burkhalter headed for the fire.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Newkirk reached Baum while the Germans were still stretched out on the ground protecting their heads from the debris raining down. The Englishman knelt beside Baum and quickly slipped the Nazi papers into Baum's pants at his waist, and tucked his shirt in over them. Then, lowering his voice, he whispered, "Its okay, you're going to be rescued on the way to the train, just stay quiet." He moved away from Baum unobserved, arriving at Hochstetter's side as LeBeau and Carter were helping the Major to his feet.

"Get your hands off me!" Hochstetter yelled, and immediately looked around. "Where is Colonel Hogan?" he bellowed.

Lieutenant Dresdner jumped to his feet, pulling Baum up with him.

Carter, Kinch, LeBeau and Newkirk turned to look around the compound.

"Gee, Major Hochstetter, he was just right here," Carter barely got the words out when the onslaught of prisoners washed over them.

"Hochstetter!" Burkhalter called. "What happened here?"

Kinch looked quickly at the approaching officers and motioned to Carter, LeBeau and Newkirk to move back into the crowd of prisoners.

"When did Burkhalter get here?" LeBeau asked.

"I don't know. Did you get your job done, Newkirk?" Kinch asked.

"Do me a favor, I could have done it blindfolded," Newkirk bragged.

Carter wide eyed, looked at his friends. "What if they search Baum?" Carter paused and another thought struck him. "What if the plans fall out of his pants?" Looking at his friends he began again, "What if…"

"_Carter_!" His three comrades called out in unison.

"Lets just deal with _now_, Carter." Kinch advised. "Spread out and keep everybody from getting out of hand. This is supposed to be a diversion, not an actual riot."

Hochstetter now standing with just his guards, Lieutenant Dresdner, and his prisoner, turned at the sound of Burkhalter's voice. "General Burkhalter, I did not know you were here."

"You didn't answer me. What is happening?" Burkhalter insisted.

"I suspect your Colonel Hogan has escaped," Hochstetter answered, already plowing through the throng of prisoners. Burkhalter and Klink followed in his wake.

"Impossible," Klink chanted back.

"Where are you going?" the General questioned.

"Hogan was standing over here somewhere!" Hochstetter growled back.

Schultz picking himself up off the ground came to his feet just as Klink, Burkhalter and Hochstetter got to him.

"Sergeant Schultz what happened?" Klink questioned.

'I…I…don't know, Herr Kommandant I was just urging the prisoners to hurry with their repairs when LeBeau tripped over the pipe that was being welded together and then _boom!"_

Prisoners continued to swarm over the German officers.

Burkhalter looked around, "Where is Colonel Hogan?"

Schultz turned, looking. "He was just here."

"Where are the other prisoners you were guarding, Schultz?" Klink asked.

Still trying to see through the sea of prisoners now in the compound, Schultz stuttered, "I…don't…that is…they were just here with Colonel Hogan!"

"Aha," Hochstetter, bellowed, cradling his fist in his hand, "I knew it! Colonel Hogan thinks Baum confessed to his being his contact and is attempting an escape!"

"Klink says you have no proof of that," Burkhalter hollered above the den of the _panicked_ prisoners.

"I didn't until now," Hochstetter answered. "Why else would he run?"

"He's a POW, it's his duty to attempt to escape. This doesn't prove Colonel Hogan was Baum's contact. If anything this only proves Colonel Hogan is taking advantage of your being here to create mass confusion and attempt to break out."

Hochstetter suddenly had a revelation. "Or this is an attempt to free my prisoner!"

Burkhalter frowned and wondered, _What__ if Hochstetter is right?_ "You had better get your prisoner out of here, just to be safe."

"Jawohl," Hochstetter agreed. The Major, now looking around at the burning truck, turned back to his prisoner, and ordered, "Guards, take the prisoner and wait in the back of the truck." He looked around again for Hogan. _I should escort Baum to __Berlin__, but I can't leave here now! The Luftwaffe's search skills fall short of the Gestapo's and this is one prisoner that isn't getting away! _

"If Hogan is attempting an escape, we need to get this anarchy under control and get a count," Hochstetter said. Looking back to where he left Baum, Lieutenant Dresdner, and his two guards, Hochstetter called out, "Lieutenant, tell the guards in the escort car to stay here and help secure the camp. Then get in the back of the truck and help escort the prisoner to Berlin. I will come along later."

"Jawohl, Herr Major," Dresdner answered, and moved out.

"Klink, get these prisoners under control!" Burkhalter commanded.

Klink turned to Schultz, "Schultz, get these prisoners back to their barracks and do a count. Find Colonel Hogan and bring him to my office!"

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant!" Schultz turned and began barking out orders to the guards.

"E_verybody_ _back to the barracks_!" Schultz disappeared into the mob. "_Colonel Hogaaan_!" Schultz called. _Where are you, Colonel Hogan?_

_vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv_

Private Edwards was directing prisoners into the spaces between the barracks and the maintenance hut, when Hogan came up behind him.

"Good job, Edwards," Hogan praised. His head ached but he was feeling a little steadier on his feet and the stars that had dotted his vision were clearing up.

"Thank-you, sir," Edwards automatically popped off a salute and Hogan reflexively returned it...sort of.

"Colonel?" Edwards focused on Hogan's hand. "You've got blood on your hand…sir!"

Hogan, looked at his hand and frowned, before putting his arm down to his side and out of sight. "It's nothing, Keep them coming, Private; we've got to keep Hochstetter busy." Hogan turned to continue on through the advancing prisoners.

"Yes…" Edwards paused as his eyes landed on the blood splattered on the back of the Colonel's jacket. "…sir."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hogan, descending from Barrack 9, reached the bottom rung of the ladder and while closing his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose. The day was catching up with him, "Mmm," he lightly moaned._ It's been a long day. _He looked at the blood on his hand and began to make his way toward the supply room below Barrack Two. _I'll get some water and wash up, _he thought. Passing the mirror outside the uniform room, he grabbed the earthen wall to steady himself and tried to look at the back of his head, without any luck. But he did see the blood on the back of his jacket. "That's just great!" he mumbled. "Ugh." His hand had again found his head injury. _Of all the stupid…, _he thought, angrily chastising himself for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then he had an idea. _Hmm…maybe…yeah, it could work…I think. _

"There you are!" Wilson approached from the direction of the radio room.

Hogan made a sudden turn toward the voice and cringed, both from the pain of the sudden move and the face looking back at him. "Wilson?"

"Anderson said Grimes told him to tell me you had blood on your hands." Wilson looked at Hogan who was still holding the back of his head with his right hand, while leaning against the wall. Wilson could see Hogan struggling to stay on his feet and grabbed his other arm.

Hogan lowered his hand to his side and looked at Wilson questioningly. "Grimes…told…Ander…" Anger flashed across Hogan's face, "Where's Edwards?"

"Edwards?" Wilson questioned, stepping closer. "You'd better let me have a look at that."

Hogan jerked free of Wilson and flattened out against the wall, "_No_, I've got plans for this."

Their discussion was interrupted by the filtering in of one of Hogan's men.

"It's working Colonel," Riley announced. "Baum left in the back of the transport truck with four guards and Dresdner. The guard truck that would have followed behind was ordered to stay. Schultz is looking all over for you. It's a mess out there, Colonel!"

"Good," Hogan pushed himself off the wall and moved into the radio room, followed by Wilson and Riley. Pulling up a stool he sat down. "So far so good."

Riley still high on adrenalin, failed to notice the paleness of his C.O..

"See, Carter, no problems!" Newkirk reassured, as they approached the small group.

Hogan felt a measure of relief when he saw Newkirk and Carter. Keeping his back to the wall and his bloodied hand hidden in the crossing of his arms across his chest, he said, "Well, since you're both here, I take it you made contact with Baum." Hogan leaned on the radio table as a wave of dizziness passed over him. Taking a deep breath, he held it for a moment to steady himself.

Wilson began edging his way behind Hogan.

"No problem at all, gov'nor. The whole plan ticked right along. Baum is on his way to rendezvous with the Underground,"

Carter smiled with relief. "I guess I just worry too much. But when I saw Burkhalter…"

"Burkhalter's here?" Hogan asked.

"Yeah, Colonel, I thought you knew?" Riley answered.

Wilson now directly behind Hogan, visually located the area of the injury.

"No, I didn't know. When did he get here?" Hogan asked.

"I don't know, Colonel," Kinch answered approaching from another branch of the tunnel. He crossed to Hogan's right. "He was with Klink when Klink came to see what had happened. I guess…" Kinch saw the blood that had run down the side of Hogan's neck and stopped. "What happened to you?" Kinch asked.

Carter and Newkirk looked from Kinch to Hogan. Still not seeing anything from their angle, they weren't sure what Kinch meant.

Hogan hesitated; he didn't want to say what really happened. He knew Carter would take it personally, even though it wasn't his fault, and blame himself for the shrapnel hitting him in the head. "I just got jostled a little bit by the crowd, and hit my head on the side of a building."

Newkirk and Carter moved around to look.

Now that it was no longer a secret, Wilson felt free to take a look.

But I think I can use this to make Klink and Burkhalter think I wandered off and passed out somewhere, which will explain why I was missing."

"Bloody 'ell, gov'nor! Why didn't you say something? Fix it, Wilson!" Newkirk rambled.

Wilson was already gently examining the gash.

"Hey, where did everybody go? I was still upstairs keeping an eye on things. Why didn't you tell me we were meeting down here?" Louis grumbled, as he entered the radio room.

"The Colonel's hurt!" Carter blurted out.

"You didn't miss anything, Louis, They were just filling me in," Hogan answered hesitantly. "Ow, Wilson, just leave it alone." Hogan ducked away from Wilson's hands.

"I'm just looking to see how bad it is! I'm not going to do anything else…right now," Wilson said.

Louis started to go around Kinch to see what Wilson was doing, when Kinch stopped him. "Whoa, Louis, the Colonel's bleeding from a gash on his head, and we don't have time for you to pass out on us."

"Mon Colonel, are you all right?" Louis asked.

"I'm all right. It's really a lucky break. It gives me an alibi," Hogan said, rubbing his forehead against the dull throbbing. "I'll just say I was dazed and came to …somewhere."

"How about the recreation building?" Kinch suggested.

"Yeah…" Hogan rubbed his eyes. "That should be good."

"Well, let's get you on up there, so you can be found and I can get that wound cleaned up before it becomes infected!" Wilson urged.

"How long has it been, Kinch?" Hogan asked.

"Almost a half hour since the first explosion, Colonel," Kinch said. "You should be good to go."

"They'll be rounding everyone up for roll call. You had all better get back in that crowd." Hogan stood up slowly.

"Colonel, protest all you want, but I'm helping you to the Recreation building," Wilson said. Not waiting for an answer, the medic grabbed onto Hogan's arm.

Hogan did not comment, but began making his way toward the tunnel leading to the Rec Hall "All right then, let's wrap this up."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Repoooort!"

Klink bellowed as he marched across his compound followed by Burkhalter and Hochstetter. The obvious vacant spot in the ranks in front of Barrack Two glared out at them. Hochstetter, both elated and worried, broke to his right as soon as it was obvious Hogan was missing and began giving orders to his men.

"You four men begin searching the compound. Start by looking for breaches in the fence then work your way through the buildings looking for tunnels." Hochstetter pointed out six more men. "You six take the dogs and grab a piece of clothing from Colonel Hogan's room to give them the scent. The rest of you will search on the other side of the wire, beginning at the fence." Hochstetter walked in front of his men looking at them intently, "I want him brought in _alive. _I will accept no excuses for his death." Hochstetter paced back in the other direction and loudly repeated, "_No excuses_!"

The men of Barrack Two shuffled back and forth on their feet, trying to stay warm in the cold night air.

Klink looked at them closely. "If you know where Colonel Hogan is, you will make it easier for him if you tell me now."

Nobody moved.

"Very well, all prisoners are confined to barracks. Dissmissssed!"

"Schultz, get the prisoners back in their barracks and begin searching the buildings. If I know Colonel Hogan, he's trying to get even with me for making him and his men work through the night." Klink prayed.

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant!"

Burkhalter walked up to Klink "I'm going to your quarters. You will go to your office and coordinate the search with Major Hochstetter."

"Oh, but General, we don't need Major Hochstetter. I can…"

"_Klink!"_Burkhalter bellowed. "If Colonel Hogan has gone under the wire…and it's beginning to look like a distinct possibility…the important thing is that we find him. Coordinate your efforts with Major Hochstetter!"

"Yes, Herr General," Klink answered, sourly.

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Louis poured another cup of coffee. "I'm ready for this to be over. I don't like mon Colonel lying out there bleeding."

"How long do you think it will take for them to find the Colonel?" Carter asked, as he took the offered coffee from Louis.

"I don't imagine it will take them too long, not with all the men they have searching," Newkirk answered.

Kinch took a sip of his coffee and said, "I just hope its Schultz that finds him."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"I could hear you two bickering all the way into Klink's quarters!" Burkhalter announced as he came into the office. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Herr General, he is impossible to work with!" Klink criticized.

"_Me! _You're the one who thinks German shepherds can out hunt Belgian Shepherds! Anybody knows…" Hochstetter fumed, as Klink joined in the chorus of complaints, echoing off the office walls.

"_Silence_!" Burkhalter loudly ordered. Before the General could continue there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Klink answered.

"Herr Kommandant, we have found Colonel Hogan," Schultz quietly announced stepping just inside the door.

"Where did you find him, Schultz?" Burkhalter asked.

"In the recreation hut, Herr General."

"There you see, Major, he was right here in camp," Klink crowed.

"That doesn't mean anything except that he hadn't made it out yet!" Hochstetter corrected.

"Quiet both of you. Where is Colonel Hogan now Schultz?" Burkhalter asked.

"He is waiting in the outer office, General Burkhalter," Schultz answered.

"Bring him in," Burkhalter ordered.

Schultz hesitated.

"You heard the General, bring him in Schultz," Klink reaffirmed.

Hochstetter stood quietly listening.

"Is there something else, Schultz?" Burkhalter asked.

Schultz nodded, "He's been bleeding from a cut on the back of his head. That is how we found him, passed out on the floor of the Recreation building."

"But you say he is in the outer office now?" Klink asked.

'Jawohl, Herr Kommandant, he is awake now, but not feeling too good," Schultz answered.

Hochstetter had had enough and shouted, "Bah, I don't care how he feels! Get him in here!"

"Jawohl, Herr Major," Schultz turned and stepped outside the door. "Colonel Hogan, come in, the Kommandant will see you now."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


	9. Chapter 9

The T.V. show Hogan's Heroes belongs to CBS and was a Bing Crosby Productions. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended

Chapter Nine

He Who Laughs Last…

Hogan quietly entered Klink's office, hat in hand. Klink took one look at his haggard prisoner and pulled a chair out, ordering, "Sit down, Colonel Hogan."

Before Hogan could move Hochstetter was in his face. "Why did you leave the area?"

Burkhalter, followed by Klink, walked around behind Hogan and looked at the blood on his jacket, neck, and in his hair. Klink grimaced.

"I didn't," Hogan denied and then frowned. "At least I don't remember leaving." Hogan shifted his weight as he struggled to stand without swaying.

"Sit down, Colonel Hogan, before you fall down," Burkhalter ordered.

Hogan turned his head slightly to locate the chair behind him_. I'd really rather stay on my feet with Hochstetter in the room, _he thought. _Maybe it will_ _help me_ _think more clearly_. He used Hochstetter's next question to delay sitting.

"Didn't you leave because you saw me come out with Herr Baum and you were afraid he might see you and recognize you?" Hochstetter's face reddened. "Admit it! You knew Baum could name you as his contact."

"No, Major, I wasn't afraid Baum would recognize me. I have never met him," Hogan answered with a degree of calmness, he wasn't feeling at the moment.

The Major sneered and ran the back of his gloved hand over the faint red mark on Hogan's cheek. "We will see, Colonel Hogan."

Hogan jerked his head away from Hochstetter's touch, and grimaced both from the touch and the pain the sudden move elicited.

Turning to Burkhalter, the Major proposed, "General, I would like to take Colonel Hogan to Berlin and see if Baum will name him as his contact." He looked back at Hogan for a response.

Hogan rubbed his forehead, while still keeping his eyes on Hochstetter. _A blind threat if we're successful in getting Baum away, but if not…_ Hogan lowered his hand and straightened. "Certainly, Major, I'd be more than happy to prove you wrong," Hogan bluffed.

"Absolutely not! You have no proof!" Klink protested. "The only thing you will accomplish is upsetting the smooth running of my camp and my prisoners by taking their commanding officer away."

Burkhalter sat back in his chair. _I have to be careful here. As much as I hate the Gestapo sticking their nose into Luftwaffe business, I may have to allow this._

_Ring, ringggg! _

"Hello, this is Kommandant Klink. Yes, he's here, just a minute. Major Hochstetter, this call is for you."

Hochstetter looked questioningly at the phone. "For me?" Stepping past Hogan he ordered, "Sit down, Colonel Hogan! I'll be right back. –Hello…yes, this is Major Hochstetter." In the pause that followed, Hochstetter went from red to white and back to red. "How many? Did we shoot any of them?" Hochstetter seemed to be in a daze and then, "_Yes! Get after them! _What? I'll send more men! Lieutenant, you had better find him or _heads will roll_!"

"What's wrong, Major?" Burkhalter asked.

Hochstetter stared off for a minute and then looked at the General. "The Underground has stolen my prisoner."

Hogan took a quick relieved breath. "No kidding?" Hogan asked with a half smile on his face.

All three officers turned to him and said in unison, "S_it down, Colonel Hogan!"_ This time Hogan complied.

_vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv_

LeBeau peered out the crack in the door of Barrack Two while the others sat, in the dark, around the only table in the common room.

"See anything, Louis?" Newkirk asked.

Louis shook his head. "No. But occasionally I can hear some shouting."

Kinch frowned. "I bet that's doing the Colonel's head a lot of good."

"Yeah, that sure was a lucky, unlucky break," Carter said.

"You want to say that again, Andrew?" Newkirk questioned.

"I mean it's too bad the Colonel had to hit his head, but it did give him an alibi."

Kinch nodded, "Leave it to the Colonel to put it to good use!"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"I'm still not convinced!" Hochstetter yelled, pacing back and forth in front of Klink's desk.

Hogan, ordered to be silent or be gagged, watched mutely and wondered if his dizziness was from the blow to his head or Hochstetter's pacing. _The only thing you have going for you, Hochstetter, is that you're right. Fortunately, you have no proof which means Burkhalter is holding all the cards. _

"Colonel Hogan was found unconscious; I seriously doubt he orchestrated the kidnapping of your prisoner!" Burkhalter proclaimed from his seat behind Klink's desk, where he sat in judgment weighing the evidence.

"The commotion he stirred up caused me to pull some of my men from guarding

Baum. If I had left them Baum would not have been taken!" Hochstetter loudly pointed out.

"Major, you cannot blame Colonel Hogan for your poor decisions," Burkhalter declared.

Klink smiled and nodded, looking smugly at Hochstetter. "Why don't you just admit it? You're theory is full of holes!" _Like your head, _Klink thought.

Hochstetter stopped his pacing and stared at Klink.

"You have no proof. You have no prisoner to offer his testimony. There is nothing more to be said." Burkhalter ordered, "Colonel Hogan, you're dismissed."

Hogan slowly stood and saluted. "Thank you, General." Rubbing his neck he headed for the door.

"Schultz, take Colonel Hogan back to his barracks and have the prisoners medic take a look at him," Klink ordered, opening the door.

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," Schultz answered, taking Hogan's arm.

"I can walk, Schultz," Hogan said, pulling against, Schultz's grip.

Without releasing Hogan's arm, Schultz answered, "Ja, Colonel Hogan, but not straight."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Blimey, I wish I could have seen Hochstetter's face," Newkirk laughed.

"Yeah, I bet he'll have a hard time explaining this to his superiors," Carter giggled from where he laid on Hogan's top bunk.

Kinch entered carrying Hogan's bomber jacket. "Here you go, Colonel. It's as good as new!" Kinch paused. "Well, it's at least as good as it was." Hogan raised an eyebrow at that last comment, and watched as Kinch hung his jacket on the corner of his bed.

"Thanks, Kinch. It may be looking a little ragged, but then so am I," Hogan remarked.

Wilson scowled. "Quit moving around."

"Sorry, Colonel, I didn't mean to get you in trouble," Kinch commented, as he stepped next to Wilson, to check out Hogan's head wound. "How's it look?"

"Not bad. It's a good thing he's hard headed. There's no damage to his skull, just some tissue trauma. Except for having a sore head for a few days, with some rest he should be fine," Wilson answered.

"Would you two mind not talking about me like I'm not here?" Hogan complained, as he pulled the towel tighter around his neck to keep the water Wilson was using to clean the wound from running down his back.

Kinch looked at Wilson and smiled, before stepping back around and taking a seat on Hogan's bottom bunk next to LeBeau. "I just checked and the radio detection truck is still in the compound, Colonel. I'm afraid we won't learn anything more tonight."

Hogan nodded, causing Wilson to place his hands on either side of Hogan's head and command, "Sit still."

Irritated, Hogan rolled his eyes and changed the topic. "Okay, let's get back to business. How much longer before our boiler will be fixed?"

LeBeau glanced quickly at Newkirk. "It's fixed, mon Colonel. After Kinch and I completed your orders to turn the hot water off in the guest quarters, we all got busy and repaired our boiler," Louis said, wiggling in his seat with a good deal of self-satisfaction.

"And we turned the water back on to the kitchen," Kinch added.

"Right, Colonel, it's all taken care of." _And Louis and I have arranged our own harassment for the enemy, _Newkirk smiled at the thought.

Carter grinned. "Yeah, don't worry, Colonel, we've taken care of everything."

"That's good," Hogan said, as Wilson pulled the towel, he was clutching around his neck, away.

"I'm done, Colonel," Wilson said.

"Finally," Hogan complained under his breath.

Gathering his supplies into his satchel, he slung it over his shoulder and picked up the washbasin to leave. "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm going to bed." Wilson, still standing behind Hogan and out of view, looked at the others and nodded his head toward the door.

Kinch stretched. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, I'm bushed! Good night, Colonel."

Louis yawned, "Oui, me too! Good night, mon Colonel."

"Boy I'm wide awake! How can you guys be sleepy after all this excitement?" Carter asked.

Kinch now standing turned and looked at Carter. "Come five thirty roll call, you won't want to get up!"

Louis nodded and offered a sarcastic, "Oui."

"Come on Andrew, I'm going to bed and so are you. I don't want you climbing into your bunk after I'm asleep and waking me up," Newkirk fussed, pulling Carter off the bunk and herding him toward the door.

Carter offered a muffled, "Night, Colonel!" as the door closed on the retreating foursome.

Hogan looked around his now quiet empty room. _It looks like we get at least one more night in the ole prison, _Hogan thought thankfully, as he stood to get ready for bed. By the time he headed for his bunk his head was throbbing with each heartbeat. Passing his jacket still hanging on his bedpost he ran his hand over it and offered a quiet prayer of thanks for the men he served with, before collapsing into his lower bunk and surrendering to his exhaustion.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Tap, tap, tap, tap. Klink's door opened slightly. "Kommandant," Schultz whispered. "Kommandant, are you awake?"

"I am now! Sshh! You'll wake General Burkhalter," Klink moaned. Turning on his light and grabbing his robe he stumbled past Schultz on his way to the parlor. "What is it, Schultz?"

"Herr, Kommandant…" Schultz started, but stopped as Burkhalter walked groggily into the room.

"What's going on now, Klink?" Burkhalter yawned.

"I don't know, Herr General." Looking back at Schultz Klink asked, "Now that you have us both awake, what is it, Schultz?"

"Herr Kommandant," Schultz looked out of the corner of his eye at Burkhalter and then quickly back at Klink. "The men were getting ready for the day and…" Schultz looked again at Burkhalter.

"And then what, Schultz?" Klink demanded.

"Well, Kommandant, you see…" Schultz didn't want to say it. He knew Klink would only blow up but General Burkhalter was a man of action. Hesitating, he realized he had no choice.

"_Schultz!" _Klink hollered.

Schultz jumped, "The men have no hot water in the showers."

"Hogan!" Klink fumed, "The man is incorrigible. I told him after Hochstetter's cold shower that I would not tolerate anymore of his shenanigans."

"Hochstetter had a cold shower?" Burkhalter's surprise changed into a laugh. "I would have liked to have seen that!"

"It was rather comical, Herr General," Klink laughed in agreement.

Recovering from his mental picture Burkhalter sobered. "But going against a direct order will have to be dealt with."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The lights flicked on in Barrack Two and the complaining began.

"Blimey, is it time for roll call already?" Newkirk asked pulling his blanket tighter around him.

"No roll call this morning," Schultz announced.

Hogan's door opened. "You're a little early, Schultz. It's only five."

"Sorry, Colonel Hogan, Kommandant Klink wants to see you," Schultz said.

"Now? What is so important that he wants to see me now?" Hogan asked.

"I know nothing, Colonel Hogan. Please get dressed," Schultz lied.

Running his hands through his hair, Hogan stopped suddenly as he hit the sore spot on the back of his head and frowned. "Okay, Schultz, give me a minute."

Schultz spent his minute dodging questions from Hogan's men.

"Hey, Schultz, what's Klink want with the Colonel?" Kinch asked, as he rolled into a sitting position on the side of his bed.

"The Kommandant does not confide in me. I only follow orders," Schultz answered as he went to the stove and shook the coffee pot. Frowning he set it back down.

"Come on, Schultz. You know more than you let on." Carter was now standing next to the stout sergeant.

"Oui, tell us, Schultzie, and I'll save you some strudel when I make it today," LeBeau tempted.

"I told you, I do not know. Now quit asking me!" Schultz begged. "Will you still save me some strudel, cockroach?" Before LeBeau could answer, the door to Hogan's room opened.

"Okay, Schultz, lets go." Hogan absentmindedly slapped his hat on his head and winced. "Ow! I think I'll leave this here." He tossed his cap on the table and looking at his men, he shrugged, as Schultz opened the door for him and they marched out.

There was a mad dash for the windows and door as the men of Barrack Two watched their commanding officer being marched out.

"Hey, they're not going to Klink's office," Carter said.

"Where are they taking him?" Kinch wondered. "They're going toward the guards' side of the camp."

Louis turned away from the window and moaned, "Oh, no!"

Newkirk too, turned pale as it dawned on him what was going on. He looked at Louis and said, "We're dead, mate!"

Kinch turned from the door and asked, "What have you two been up to?"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Where are we going, Schultz?" Hogan asked.

"Please, Colonel Hogan this is hard enough. Don't ask me any questions," Schultz begged. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better…so far…I think. What's up Schultz?" Hogan asked.

Schultz stopped in front of the guards' showers and opened the door. Hogan stepped in.

"Kommandant, General Burkhalter," Hogan acknowledged and nodded as he stepped inside. He looked questioningly at them, waiting for an explanation.

"Colonel Hogan," Burkhalter began, "Kommandant Klink tells me that due to the repairs on the plumbing that Major Hochstetter ended up taking a cold shower."

Hogan looked surprised. _Why would Klink bring that up?_ "I explained that, General. We left the hot water in the water heater. The Major just used more hot water than we anticipated."

Burkhalter smiled, "Yes, so I was told." Looking down the dripping double row of showerheads Burkhalter continued, "Frankly, Colonel Hogan, I could care less about Major Hochstetter. However, our Luftwaffe soldiers report that they were exposed to cold showers this morning. And Kommandant Klink tells me you were warned not to pull that stunt again."

Hogan paled. "Honestly, General, I know nothing about the hot water not working in the guards' showers. I'm sure if it was something we did it was just an accident! After all, we aren't professional plumbers and…"

Burkhalter turned and picked up a towel and a bar of soap. "I believe you, Colonel Hogan. But just to make sure you don't forget to get this fixed..." Burkhalter handed Hogan the towel and soap.

"You want me to take a shower?" Hogan asked, surprised.

Burkhalter smiled, "Perhaps this will prevent any further accidents."

"But…" Hogan looked at Klink. "Surely, Kommandant you don't think I…"

"You were warned, Colonel Hogan," Klink cackled, enjoying the moment. "Maybe this will make you think twice before you disobey one of my orders again."

"I didn't disobey…forget it." Realizing no intercession was coming, Hogan looked down the line of showers and mumbled, "Swell!" His mind was searching for an explanation as he unzipped his jacket and began undressing. _LeBeau said they all got together and worked on our boiler… _The light came on in Hogan's mind, "They're dead!"

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**_--Thirty minutes later--_**

The door to Barrack Two opened and a wet haired, slightly blue American Colonel entered the room and headed straight for the stove.

"Oh, no," Louis moaned.

Carter sat up wide-eyed on his cot, and asked, "What happened, Colonel?"

The bunk rose over the tunnel and Kinch climbed out, taking in what was going on.

"Some…somebody t-turned off the…" Hogan paused to shiver. "…hot water to the…g-guards' show…shower," Hogan said through chattering teeth. "W-who was…"

"Colonel, we didn't know they'd…that is…we thought…" Newkirk gave up and with hat in hand prepared to face the music. "I'm sorry, Colonel, had I known…"

"Oui, Colonel, we didn't know they would make you take a shower!" Louis was pale with remorse.

Shivering, Hogan clenched his chattering teeth together and hissed through them, "Fix it! Now! Bef..fore I have to take a…nother one tomor…tomorrow."

LeBeau and Newkirk practically fell over themselves getting out the door. Louis grabbed his blanket off of his bed as he was leaving and draped it over Hogan's shoulders. Hogan grabbed it and wrapped it around himself as the door closed.

Kinch was doing his best not to laugh out loud and snorted, drawing a severe look from Hogan, after which he worked at forcing himself to somber up. "You okay, Colonel?" Kinch finally forced out with just a hint of amusement.

Carter sat quietly, afraid to say anything.

Hogan looked sternly at Kinch and then a twinkle slipped into his eyes. "Do I look as cold as I feel?"

"Yes, sir, you're a bit blue. Here," Kinch slid the bench over closer to the stove, "you'd better sit there for awhile."

Hogan pulled the blanket up around his head and sat down. "I think I will." It suddenly donned on Hogan that Kinch had just returned from the tunnel. "Is the radio detection truck gone?"

"Yeah, Hochstetter must have pulled it out after we went to bed," Kinch guessed.

"Finally," Hogan sighed. "Have you got some news for us?"

Kinch smiled and sat down next to Hogan. Carter cautiously came over and sat with them.

Kinch handed Hogan the message while verbally telling him what it said, "Baum's on his way to England and the plans have been passed on to the Navy."

"Do you think the Navy got them in time, Colonel?" Carter asked.

"They should have. And I'm sure our boys will have a nice surprise ready for them, if the Nazis decide to follow through on them," Hogan answered.

Carter looked questioningly at Hogan. "What do you mean, _if_ they decide to follow through with them?"

"They may decide it's not worth it now that they've lost the element of surprise," Kinch explained.

"Boy, it makes you feel good to think we may have been able to stop an entire battle!" Carter grinned.

**_-Late that afternoon-_**

****

--Knock, knock, knock--

****

"Yes?" Klink looked up as Schultz ushered Hogan in. "Ah, Colonel Hogan, come in. You're dismissed, Schultz."

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant."

"You wanted to see me, Colonel?" Hogan asked, looking at his watch.

"Yes, Hogan."

Hogan squinted trying to read the dial on his watch. "Do you mind if I turn on the overhead light Kommandant? It's a little dark in here."

Klink looked out the window at the setting sun and nodded. "I thought you would want to know your five a.m. shower, scheduled for tomorrow morning, has been cancelled. You'r_e_ men did a good job getting the hot water back on in my men's showers."

"That _is_ good news. I'll let my men know. I wasn't looking forward to another cold shower. Is that all, sir?"

"Yes, Hogan, that is all. You're dismissed." Klink went back to finishing his report.

"Thank you, sir. And don't worry, we'll have it fixed in no time," Hogan said as he hurriedly closed the door.

"That's good," Klink mumbled, returning to his reports. And then, gradually, Hogan's words sank in. _Have what fixed? _He wondered. His question was soon answered--_--Plink—_as the overhead light went out.

HH

--Authors Notes--.

The plot bunny that inspired this story was:

The boys are on strict radio silence thanks to Hochstetter's men surrounding the camp with radio detection trucks. That means the tunnel escape routes are also off-limits for the time being. Schnitzer the dog man isn't scheduled to visit the camp for another week. BUT, Hogan and his men have to get a critically important message to the underground for passage to London.

I hope the owner found this story worthy of their bunny. I had a lot of fun writing it. And the tricky little bunny only escaped into the story once. But luckily it turned out okay. His scaring the horse and upsetting the potato cart was just the diversion the Underground needed to get Schultz to stop his truck. Thanks Plot Bunny!

About Reykjavik Iceland

The Germans did have a weather station at Reykjavik Iceland. The German troops stationed there were removed by, British Major General, Robert Sturges, on board the British cruiser Berwick. After this the Kriegsmarine tried to establish a network of weather reporting trawlers.


End file.
